Dirty Halo
by Boadicia
Summary: I wrote this as part of a dare from my little brother. It's fatherly woes as Dante deals with a daughter with devil powers and a demon set out to destroy her.
1. Prologue

Prologue  
  
She clung to her husband's leg with utter desperation and terror as he dragged her down the corridor. Her screaming attracted servants, noblemen, and courtesans throughout the palace, but none of them came to her rescue. They dared not challenge the emperor at this moment, even when the victim was their empress by birth, and the emperor was a mere ruler by marriage. Some of them snickered with covered mouths while others carried curious children back to bed.  
  
The king had doused her with cold mud and draped her in a shamefully red cloth before dragging her through the hallways. To everyone in the empire of Shangri-La, that was the worst insult a person, especially a monarch, could suffer. She was being relegated in the worst way.  
  
He quickly grew tired of her screaming and begging. "Shut up! Shut up you stupid bitch, or I'll kill you right now with my bare hands!" He stopped for a moment to nurse the cramp in his lower back. The next moment, his eyes betrayed the red shadow several feet further down the corridor. The emperor knew whom it was; the platinum hair and glowing red eyes gave it away, not to mention the huge sword on its back.  
  
The red eyes lowered to the shamed empress on the floor. "Having trouble with the missus?"  
  
The emperor huffed and snarled. "Don't patronize me, you freak. You're the reason it has come to this."  
  
The glowing red eyes returned their gaze to the emperor. "Really, Arkyle, it's rude to blame others for your own idiosyncrasies. I had nothing to do with this."  
  
"Liar! You come to my shores, and I welcome you as one of my own. Then you dare to take my wife, MY OWN WIFE, into your bed. You dare to say you had nothing to do with this!" He seized a fistful of her hair, but she refused to scream again. "Deanna Min Ná is not worthy to rule Shangri-La. I dare not disgrace myself by being married to a woman who carries another man's child."  
  
The red eyes didn't falter. "Neither you nor this godforsaken country deserve her. She's the only one here who deserves to live."  
  
"So you wish to take her yourself?" Rather than give the red shadow a chance to respond, he twisted Deanna's hair. Before she could scream again, the red shadow grasped the sword on its back and pulled it free. It was almost as long as he was tall, which was about six feet. Thin streams of lightning zipped across the flawless metal. He never gave Arkyle another chance to move. The sword tip plunged through Arkyle's back, right of the heart. By reflex, Arkyle released Deanna and turned to face the shadow. Lightning engulfed his body as the shadow plunged the sword through Arkyle's chest. Arkyle began to fall before the sword was pulled free. The shadow placed the sword onto his back and picked up Deanna.  
  
"We are in so much trouble," Deanna whispered.  
  
The shadow wiped blood from her face. "There's no one here to argue. Let's go before someone makes us regret this."  
  
Arkyle lay alone in the hallway. Seconds after Deanna and the shadow disappeared, another shadow, more ominous than the first, leaned over him. It made a tsk tsk sound while shaking what appeared to be its head.  
  
"Arkyle, dear, what good are you if a mere man can take you down so easily?"  
  
"He's no mere man," Arkyle gurgled through a throat full of blood.  
  
"No, he's not, but, compared to me, he might as well be." It placed what could have been a foot on Arkyle's chest. "Give it time. Let them flourish and have their child. The child is the true key." It held up what should have been a hand. A small sparkle of light pulsated in its palm. "She'll bring it back to us. I'll see to that." It closed its fingers around the sparkle. "It's a shame, though."  
  
"What is?" Arkyle asked.  
  
"That child will have a terrible mother."  
  
Arkyle rolled from under the foot. "If that child comes here, I'll throttle it with my bare hands."  
  
The shadow suddenly exploded in laughter. "That's a good one, Arkyle! This coming from a guy who practically let his wife invite someone else into her bed and didn't even care. You amuse me."  
  
"How can you say I didn't care? I just shamed and exiled her."  
  
"Only because I told you to."  
  
"Oh shut up."  
  
The shadow stopped laughing. It slammed its foot against Arkyle's head and forced him to the floor. "Watch your back, Arkyle. I'll kill you." 


	2. Career Day

Career Day  
  
He didn't blink when the blood splattered across his face. Some flew across his mouth, but he did not taste it. The lightning sword Alastor slashed through the demon's heart. Then it severed the demon's head before the body hit the ground. Dante drew Alastor back to prepare for the next attack. The second demon released the cave wall and leapt towards him. Dante sidestepped and butted the demon in the back of the head with the sword hilt. The tip of a wing gashed Dante across the cheek. The demon flew straight into a torch and burst into flames.  
  
Dante hoisted the bag with the demon queen's head over his shoulder and continued running towards the cave entrance. The scuffling and screeching of demons chasing him filled the cave. He could not possibly kill them all at once. There were literally thousands of them after him.  
  
Dante guessed, from the increasing intensity of the echos, they were quickly reducing the distance. Cold claws slashing against his back reminded him how desperate the situation was. Reaching within his soul in an instant, a black glow suddenly surrounded his body. A demon slashed at his back again. It got a hand full of red leather. It pulled back for another swipe, but this time it got empty space. The black light receded farther up the cave. The demon stopped flying and stared in awe as Dante dashed forward at a superhuman speed. He was still dumbstruck when the demons behind him trampled him in their pursuit of their queen mother's murderer.  
  
Dante dug his feet into the dirt as he exited the cave. His momentum forced him forward a few meters. He never had a second to rest before he saw an unpleasant surprise. The queen mother's mate, who was twice her size, loomed over him. It's skin was slimy black. Four leathery wings were outstretched across its back. Six muscular arms with seven claws on each hand grasped at the air. It leaned forward and released a deep throated growl.  
  
Dante shook his head. "I'm not getting paid for you."  
  
As if it had just been insulted, the demon king raised it's head to the sky and roared. The vibrations shook the ground. Dante shifted his weight to compensate. Rocks and boulders broke loose and began raining down upon the cave entrance. The demon king looked down to claw Dante to pieces with one swipe. Much to its chagrin, Dante was gone. The bag that carried the queen mother's head lay on the ground.  
  
The demon king leaned forward to grab the bag. As it reached out with one claw, Alastor flew into its arm and spun against the flesh. The sword continued to spin until it severed the claw. Then it returned to its owner's hand. The demon king raised its head to the sky again. This time it was responding to an airborne scream. Dante descended upon it with Alastor in hand. The demon king saw the sword swipe downward, but it did not feel Alastor cleave through its flesh. When Dante landed, he seized the bag and leapt out of the way.  
  
The demon king thought it was an impressive leap. Before it was halfway through the thought, a cold sensation ran across its neck. Though it stood erect, its head leaned forward until it completely ripped free of the rest of its body. The head crashed onto the cave entrance just as the demons within it began to emerge. They were all crushed as their father's head fell onto them. The rest of the body followed suit seconds later. The cave completely collapsed at the entrance and several meters down from the massive weight. The demons trapped alive would eventually starve to death, assuming they didn't first eat each other.  
  
Dante placed Alastor over one shoulder and hoisted the bag over the other. He whistled on his way to collect his money.  
  
*  
Lilith Divinity Sparda shoved her toes under her pillow and stared at the TV. She was watching a rerun of Farscape, where Zhaan was bringing Aeryn back from the brink of death through Unity. Just as Aeryn refused John Crichton's advances yet again, there was a tap on the door.  
  
"Enter!" Lilith said without turning from the TV.  
  
Dante, now clean from a quick shower, silently entered the room and closed the door. He took a moment to admire the little girl sitting on her bed while refusing to pay him any attention. She had a light brown complexion like her mother, but her hair was platinum white like her father's. Her eyes were an eerie deep blue, probably from a mutation, but Dante always thought they were his mother's eyes. She didn't seem to take notice of the man standing in her room, but he knew she was aware. "Shouldn't you be in bed?" he asked.  
  
Her fingers played with an amulet around her neck. "I am in bed."  
  
In a seemingly single motion, Dante turned on the lamp, then snatched up the remote and turned off the television. Lilith stood as if to protest. Dante tossed the remote aside. Then he picked up the eight year old and dropped her onto the bed. "Don't act upset," he said. "You've seen that episode a million times."  
  
"Big deal. I want to see it again."  
  
"It's over now. Besides, you have school in the morning."  
  
"I went to school yesterday," Lilith whined.  
  
Dante leaned over her. "And you'll go tomorrow. And you'll keep going because I'm your father and I said so."  
  
Lilith huffed. She never won these disagreements, and she knew she wasn't about to start. "Okay, okay. I give." Dante fluffed the pillow and placed it at the head of the bed. "Oh dear, sweet, Daddy of mine...," Lilith began.  
  
"Whatever it is, the answer is no," Dante finished. Oh god, he thought, she's turning into a sycophant.  
  
"Daddy, you haven't even heard me out."  
  
Dante dropped himself onto the bed. "Fine. What is it?"  
  
Lilith took a deep breath. "Are you doing anything important next Friday?"  
  
"Important being?"  
  
"Anything having to do with slaying denizens of the Underworld."  
  
"Well, I don't have anything planned at the present." Dante raised an eyebrow. "What are you up to?"  
  
"Nothing. Well, actually, next Friday at school, we're having a Career Day, and Mom already said she couldn't make it, so you're my only choice. Please don't say no."  
  
Dante sighed as if he just passed a kidney stone. "Lilith, what am I supposed to tell them?"  
  
"I already passed the word that you were a bounty hunter. You can fib your way through that; it's close enough to the truth."  
  
"Yes, but I don't hunt humans. I hunt demons."  
  
"They don't need to know that." Lilith widened her eyes in the most hideous puppy dog look Dante had ever seen, which was saying a lot, considering she was a beautiful little girl. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeese."  
  
"I'll think about it."  
  
"But if you say no, who else will I have to take with me?"  
  
Dante slipped his hands around her neck to undo the clasp on her amulet. "I'll take care of it. Now go to bed." He stood and placed the amulet beside a figurine of a man carrying a large hourglass.  
  
With one final pout, Lilith fell against the pillow. Dante pulled the covers up to her chin. At the last minute, he pulled them over her head and dropped them onto her face. As soon as she shrieked in protest, he pulled them back to her chin. Then he kissed her forehead and turned off the light.  
  
*  
Deanna rocked back and forth with restlessness. Though the bedroom was slightly below room temperature, she had only one sheet on her. The rest of the bed covers were strewn across the foot of the bed. She instantly stopped moving when she heard Dante's footsteps, then rolled onto her side to feign sleep. She listened as Dante opened and closed the door and got undressed. She maintained her charade as he slipped into bed behind her. He slid an arm around her diaphragm and planted his face against her neck.  
  
"How was work?" Deanna mumbled.  
  
Dante lifted his head slightly. "I almost got killed today."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"Well, don't sound concerned."  
  
Deanna rolled over to look at him. "Is there really any purpose in being concerned about you?"  
  
"No, but that's not the point."  
  
"Can we save this until later? I had a difficult time with Lilith today."  
  
"What did she do? She didn't try to transform, did she?"  
  
Deanna shook her head. "She wouldn't do that without your supervision. Not yet, anyway."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
Deanna hesitated while she tried to find an easy way to tell him. "I'll break it to you gently. It's about Lilith's school thing next Friday."  
  
"Oh no," Dante moaned. "Tell me it wasn't your idea. Tell me your boss made you do it."  
  
"Sort of. It's not easy being a model. I think I'm the only one there who isn't underweight or carrying an entire community of tapeworms."  
  
"You know that's just an urban legend."  
  
Deanna put a hand over Dante's face. "Anyway, I've been scheduled for shooting for the next two weeks, so I can't go with Lilith. Sorry. If you don't want her to fail, you have to go instead."  
  
"What am I supposed to tell them?" Dante asked against her hand.  
  
"Tell them you're a bounty hunter, or a mercenary." Deanna began laughing. "Better yet, say you're a garbage specialist, except the garbage you deal with is not the kind you see everyday."  
  
Dante moved her hand aside. "That's not funny."  
  
"It is to me." Deanna suddenly became serious. "Besides, this is important to her. You know she's been having trouble at school with one of the kids, and you've forbidden her to fight back."  
  
"I have to. I don't want a call from the school or a disgruntled parent telling me that their kid has been mutilated, decapitated, and hanged upside down by his own entrails. That's not something I want to take responsibility for."  
  
"She's old enough to understand the importance of discretion. You should at least let her learn to defend herself like a human."  
  
"But she's not human."  
  
"Well, what do you expect her to do? If it goes too far, eventually she will take matters into her own hands. For crying out loud, you won't even let me discipline her. You do everything for her yourself."  
  
"Fine. I'm too tired to argue. I'll go. Maybe I can scare some discipline into the little brat who's bothering her."  
  
"That's acceptable, but promise me you won't use the glowing eyes."  
  
Dante didn't answer. Deanna thought she might have insulted him. She would have turned over to go to sleep. Dante stopped her just long enough to plant a kiss on her nose. She pulled his head down to her lips for another kiss. Dante rolled over and pulled Deanna astride his waist. He pulled her down for another kiss, which led into two hours of lovemaking.  
  
*  
"I hate children."  
  
Lilith flashed Dante a skeptical look. "No, you don't."  
  
"OK, I don't, but I hate other people's children. Dealing with my own is difficult enough." Lilith's expression didn't change. "I was just joking!"  
  
"Only halfway. Today you get to meet that jerk whom you won't let me fight."  
  
"It's for both your own goods. Mostly his."  
  
For the first time in several days, Lilith smiled. "Remember your story you're telling the class."  
  
Dante leaned over to undo her seatbelt. "Yeah, yeah. Bounty hunter and all that."  
  
"By the way, the kid in question is named Jason Wyland. He's kinda stocky and has freckles. You can't miss him."  
  
Dante put an arm around Lilith's shoulders. "You're not going to embarrass me today, are you?"  
  
Lilith's mouth said, "No." Her face said, I should be telling YOU that! She opened the car door and stepped outside to get a look at the other kids' parents. After some time of staring, she said, "Look at all those freaks. Ahh!" She squealed as Dante snatched her jacket and pulled her after him towards the school entrance. He continued dragging her to her classroom. As soon as he opened the door, Lilith took over. Under the assumption that she had a reputation to maintain for her classmates, he let her lead him into the room. He had no idea yet how right he was.  
  
"Lilith?" Lilith and Dante both stopped and turned towards the teacher's desk. A tall pale skinned woman with curly red hair stood and extended a hand to Dante. "You must be Lilith's father. I'm her teacher, Rhiannon MacLeod."  
  
Dante took her hand and resisted the urge to squeeze it. "Yes. That would be me. I'm her father."  
  
"Good. You're just in time." She pointed to several empty seats. "Make yourself comfortable. Class begins in a few minutes."  
  
Dante followed Lilith to seats in the front row. After a glance across those already there, he leaned towards her. "I don't see Jason."  
  
As soon as he said the name, the door swung open. A chunky kid with freckles, followed by an overweight man with freckles, entered the room. Much to Lilith's dismay, they sat beside her.  
  
"Is that the one?" Dante asked.  
  
Lilith sensed the humor behind his question. For the first time she could recall, she wished he wasn't smiling. "May I hit him? Just once?"  
  
"No! Fighting doesn't belong in school. Besides, he hasn't done anything."  
  
"He will."  
  
Dante placed a finger over his lips to signal silence. Ms. MacLeod sighed and closed the door Jason's father had left open. As soon as she turned around, she smiled. It was obviously a pretense. "Well, who's first?" No one moved. "Come on. Someone has to go first."  
  
Ms. MacLeod prepared to call someone. Lilith saw her eyes move towards Dante until Jason's father stood. "Nobody panic," Jason's father said. "I'll save the day." Jason was the only one amused. Most of the other children groaned.  
  
"Is it really that bad?" Dante heard a man ask his son.  
  
"You have no idea," the boy answered.  
  
Ms. MacLeod motioned inertly to the front of the room. "Please come up front and introduce yourself." She sat at her desk and prepared for a disaster. She wasn't disappointed. Half the children and all the parents, including Lilith and excluding Dante, groaned and squirmed in pain. In desperation, Lilith rummaged through Dante's pockets until she found a pen. She then flipped over his hand and began tic tac toe on his palm.  
  
For the next five minutes, Jason's father thoroughly tortured the class with his tales of macho bravado in construction work and lunch breaks that made several parents clear their throats or cover their children's ears. Thankfully, one child raised her hand and swung it around as if she were convulsing. Ms. MacLeod perked up in relief and pointed. "What is it, Shana? Do you have a question?"  
  
"Yes!" Shana squealed behind Lilith's head as she crossed through her X's on Dante's middle finger. "Are there any women in construction?"  
  
Ms. MacLeod held her breath. She knew what was coming. Jason's father stiffened as if it were a stupid question. "Of course, there are," Lilith muttered under her breath as she marked an X on Dante's wrist.  
  
What I wouldn't give for a Quaker Chewy, Dante thought. Dante reached into another pocket and pulled out a watermelon Jolly Rancher. He unwrapped it and shoved it into Lilith's mouth. He wasn't a moment too soon.  
  
"Not around here," Jason's father answered. "Most such work is too much for women." Lilith's eyes narrowed as she realized why she'd been given the Jolly Rancher.  
  
"That's not true!" a boy yelled in the back. "My aunt is a construction worker in Texas!"  
  
The astonishment on Jason's father's face cued Ms. MacLeod to slap the desk. Everyone looked at her in unison. "If no one has anymore questions, I'm sure someone else would like to come up. Please. Alex, how about your mother?"  
  
The next twenty minutes were much easier to endure. If Lilith had paid attention, she would have been bored, intrigued, and bored again by the psychologist, the cop, and the beautician. By the end of the fourth parent, Lilith was up to Dante's elbow and her fifth Jolly Rancher.  
  
"Lilith," Ms. MacLeod said, "how about your father?"  
  
Lilith didn't cross the X. "Uh oh."  
  
Dante pulled the pen from her hand. With a wink and a smile, he pulled down his sleeve and stood. He was bewildered by the abrupt applause from most of the children. Ms. MacLeod shrugged. "She has a fan club."  
  
"Really?" He stepped forward to the designated spot and pivoted on a heel. The classroom looks different on this end. "My name is Dante; I'm Lilith's father." There was more applause. He looked at Lilith. "I'm a bounty hunter."  
  
"What's a bounty hunter?" Shana asked.  
  
"I hunt bad guys for money."  
  
"Like a cop."  
  
Dante nodded. "Something like that."  
  
"Do you shoot people?" another girl asked.  
  
Ms. MacLeod shot the girl a disapproving look. "Dana, that's an inappropriate question!"  
  
"Actually," Dante answered, "I do shoot people, but only in self- defense."  
  
"Do you have guns?" another child asked with too much enthusiasm. His mother seized his arm and forced him into his seat.  
  
Dante casually pushed his coat aside and pulled two guns, a chrome one and a black one, from a hidden holster. Reactions ranged from gasps of terror to gawking and pointing in awe. Ms. MacLeod stood as if to protest. Dante positioned the guns over her desk and released the clips. They clattered onto the desk. She calmed a bit when she saw they were empty. "These are my coworkers, Ebony and Ivory. They're handmade."  
  
"Have you ever killed anyone?" another child asked.  
  
Dante lowered Ebony and Ivory. "Only in self-defense, but I don't just use guns. I also have swords."  
  
Lilith covered her ears as all her classmates, except Jason, jumped up in unison and chaotically requested a demonstration. She watched him place Ebony and Ivory on the desk. The teacher covered them with her jacket. Dante left through the second door that led to the playground while the parents futilely attempted calming their children. She saw Dante return with a three foot long branch. The children got out of control again as he gave them their demonstration.  
  
Lilith jumped when someone tapped her shoulder. She turned to see her friend Alex lean over her seat. "Your dad is awesome."  
  
For the second time that day, Lilith smiled. "Thanks. I know."  
  
*  
"That wasn't so bad, was it?"  
  
Lilith shrugged. The hallways were almost empty. Everyone was going home, and she was really looking forward to the weekend. "I'm just glad it's over."  
  
Dante pinched and shook her nose. "Stop complaining." When they reached the exit, Dante stopped and grabbed Lilith's shoulder. "Where's your amulet?"  
  
Lilith reached for her neck; it was bare. "The clasp must have broken in class. I'll be back." Dante let her slip free and run back into the building. On her way back to the classroom, she saw Jason standing next to the boy's bathroom. Knowing Dante would disapprove, she quickly looked away and continued on to the classroom. Ms. MacLeod was still inside with someone else's mother. The woman stared at her with disdain as Lilith waved once and dropped to her hands and knees. Ms. MacLeod waved back with her index finger. Lilith found the amulet under her seat. She waved again without looking as she headed back for the door. On her way out, she saw Jason still standing next to the boy's bathroom.  
  
"Hey Sparda!" Lilith ignored him. "Sparda!" Jason called again. Lilith stopped. She closed her eyes and squeezed the amulet as she attempted to soothe the latent demon. "What'cha doing, freak!"  
  
Lilith spun on her heel to face him. "Leave me alone."  
  
Jason approached with a smirk. Lilith instinctively stepped back. "Now I know why you're a freak. It runs in the family."  
  
Lilith felt the demon begging for release. "Don't make me mad."  
  
"What are you going to do?" He pushed her with one hand.  
  
"I didn't come here for you." Lilith turned her back to him. Jason ran behind her and pushed her with all his weight. She ran face first into a locker. Lilith didn't hear his laughter. She rebounded off the locker and put all her momentum, along with some demon spirit, into her fist. Less than a second later, Jason lay on the floor beside a small puddle of blood and teeth. He quickly crawled towards the lockers to get out of the way. He held his fractured jaw with one hand.  
  
"Hey! What the hell happened!" Jason's father stepped out from the boy's bathroom and approached them.  
  
Lilith popped a knuckle. She was feeling lucky. "I gave him what he asked for."  
  
"Is that so?" He snatched Lilith's shirt and pulled her to within an inch of his face. "What did you do to my son, you little brat?"  
  
"What are you doing!" The force behind the new voice made him release her. She ran aside to give her father room to do his work. She bit her thumb in an attempt to quell the impending laughter.  
  
Wyland straightened and turned to face Dante. "You got a problem, buddy?"  
  
Dante walked slowly towards him. "As a matter of fact, I do. Simply put, keep your filthy hands off my kid. If you don't, your bone count will go from 206 to 618."  
  
Wyland didn't bother doing the math. "Me? Look what she did to MY kid!"  
  
Dante leaned to the side to get a good look. Then he stood up to stare Wyland in the eye. "From what I've heard, he's had it coming. If you knew what I know, you'd be grateful that's all she did."  
  
Wyland nodded. "Now I understand all that crap Jason told me about her. She probably gets it from you."  
  
"Yes she does, and your kid takes after you. Between the two of them, my kid obviously got the better deal."  
  
"So, you think you're tough, huh? Don't let your mouth write a check your ass can't cash."  
  
Dante couldn't resist smiling. "Don't worry. My account is full."  
  
Wyland's fist swung out for Dante's face. Dante didn't even blink. His hand reached out and caught Wyland's fist in mid-flight. Bone's cracked under the pressure. "Like I said," Dante said, "keep your filthy hands off my kid." More bones cracked as Dante squeezed the fist. As soon as Wyland opened his mouth to scream, Dante's other hand punched him in the mouth. Wyland fell to the floor beside where Jason fell earlier. He spat up blood and teeth. He held his jaw with one hand when he realized it had been broken, probably in two or three places.  
  
"Now you have a mouth to match your son's," Dante taunted. "By the way, your fly's open." Without a glance towards Jason nor his father, Dante seized Lilith and led her away. When they got outside, Dante ruffled Lilith's hair. "Don't forget what I told you," he said.  
  
"I know," Lilith said. "Fighting doesn't belong in school."  
  
He tweaked her nose again. "That's my girl." 


	3. Guess What!

Guess What!  
  
Lilith stared down at the crystal shards scattered across the floor. Five minutes ago her mother's crystal cat figurine was sitting on the tabletop. Now its fragments were strewn everywhere. Her heart skipped a beat when she heard the door open and close. Time felt as if it were in slow motion as she heard her mother gasp. Deanna spun Lilith around. "What did you do!" Lilith was too terrified to answer. Deanna pushed her aside and kneeled next to the broken crystal. "Were you playing with this after I repeatedly told you not to?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Don't lie to me!"  
  
"I'm not!"  
  
Deanna snapped her head around. "Don't yell at me either!"  
  
"It's not what you think, or what you want to think."  
  
Lilith didn't expect what happened next. Deanna had disciplined her before, but this time Deanna was in no mood to stop and think. Deanna stood and struck Lilith across the face. The force of the blow knocked Lilith to the floor. "Don't you dare talk to me like that again," Deanna threatened.  
  
Lilith learned early on to remain perfectly still when Deanna was angry with her. She waited with one hand over her bleeding nose while Deanna idly cleaned the floor one fragment at the time. She cringed as each shard crashed against each other in the trash. Just as Deanna picked up the last piece, the door opened again. Lilith allowed herself to relax when she heard Dante whistling. The song halted when he saw Lilith on the floor with a bleeding nose and Deanna with a piece of crystal in her hand.  
  
"Did I miss something?" he asked Deanna.  
  
Deanna held up the shard. "Your daughter broke my cat figurine."  
  
"My daughter?" he mouthed. "What happened?" he asked Lilith.  
  
She moved her hand from her face to speak clearly. "It's not what you think. It was an accident."  
  
"What are you doing on the floor?" Lilith stood but did not speak. She didn't have to. Dante wiped the blood from her face with one sweep. "Go upstairs. I'll talk to you in a minute." Lilith wasted no time in obeying. Dante waited for the sound of the door closing before turning to Deanna. "Did you hit her?"  
  
"What difference does it make? I wasn't thinking."  
  
"Obviously. I thought I told you years ago to leave the discipline to me when her powers first surfaced. You don't understand what you could be contending with, especially in an emotional ten year old."  
  
"I forgot, all right! I was angry. She broke my cat."  
  
"You can't say I didn't warn you. I told you to keep it off that table."  
  
"Maybe if she didn't run in the house, then she wouldn't keep bumping into the damn table and knocking shit over. Maybe if she kept her grubby little hands off everything, I wouldn't have to keep replacing it."  
  
"That may be true, but what if Lilith had gotten angry enough at you to fight back? She's already capable of metamorphosing into a demon form under her own power. What would you have done if she managed to do so and attacked you?"  
  
"Look! I said I'm sorry!"  
  
"No you didn't, and don't yell at me. I'm not your child."  
  
"Whatever." Dante didn't bother listening. He went upstairs and knocked on Lilith's door.  
  
"What!" Lilith yelled.  
  
"Don't yell at me, young lady." That he said it in a normal tone was enough for her to open the door. She cracked it just enough to stick her head through it. Dante ruffled her hair as soon as he could get a hold of it. "Get your coat. I'm taking you out."  
  
*  
  
"Will you please stop kicking my seat?"  
  
Lilith curled her legs. "Sorry. I've had a bad day."  
  
Dante glimpsed into the rearview mirror. "Are you sure that's all?"  
  
"No. There is the stupid cat."  
  
"I told you not to run around that corner. You always hit that table when you do."  
  
"I know. I'm sorry." Lilith pressed her forehead against the window. "Are you going to spank me?"  
  
Dante swallowed a snicker. "No. I think your mother got the point across."  
  
"That's not funny."  
  
Dante didn't straighten his face. "Who's laughing?"  
  
Lilith didn't pay attention when the car stopped. Her mind was wandering when Dante pulled his seat up and undid her seat belt. She let him pull her out of the backseat by her arm. When she didn't notice where they were, he lifted her chin with his finger and pointed her face towards the Baskin Robbins sign. She bolted into a run towards the door. Dante shook his head. "Kids." He shut the car door and ran after her.  
  
He found her balancing on her toes to gaze over the counter. He knew exactly what she was looking for. He told her to take a seat and wait. A minute later he placed a cup full of Rocky Road in front of her. "Thank you," she said quietly.  
  
Dante sat opposite her with a cup of Cookies and Cream. "What's wrong?"  
  
"She never hit me before. Not in the face. And you told her she couldn't punish me anymore. Only you could do that from now on."  
  
Dante sat back. "How did you know about that?"  
  
"I know everything." She shoved a spoonful of Rocky Road into her mouth.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Just eat your ice cream, silly. I'm only joking."  
  
"I doubt that."  
  
*  
Deanna waved at the women in the car before their car pulled off. Thunder in the distance made her run to the door. She fumbled with the keys for a moment. The muffled sound of an animal caused her to drop them. She listened carefully with her ear against the door. She was certain she heard a bark. Deanna picked up the keys and forced them into the door until she found the right one. When she opened the door, a black Labrador puppy stopped in its tracks to look at her. It spread its nostrils and growled at her.  
  
"What is that beast doing in here!" Deanna demanded.  
  
Lilith approached the puppy from behind and picked it up. It continued growling at Deanna. "This is our new dog. Isn't she cute?"  
  
"Dog? What are we doing with a dog?"  
  
"Lighten up, Deanna." Deanna raised her eyes to Dante without lifting her head. Her grimace only incited Dante. "Let the girl have some fun."  
  
"What are you doing buying her a dog?"  
  
"She wanted a pet."  
  
"She has guppies."  
  
"She wanted an interesting pet."  
  
Deanna raised her head. "But a dog will leave a mess everywhere. It'll get into everything. It'll bring weird things home. We have Lilith for that."  
  
"I'll take care of her," Lilith begged right before Dante stepped towards Deanna to strike her. "I promise."  
  
"No way. No how." Deanna hadn't noticed how close she came to provoking Dante's dark side.  
  
"That's not for you to say," Dante said. "I say the dog stays."  
  
"What?"  
  
Dante put a hand on Lilith's shoulder. "You know the drill. I'll see you in five."  
  
I've heard that before, Lilith thought. "Can she sleep on my bed tonight?"  
  
"Sure." As was the usual habit, he waited until he heard the door close to say anything. "Deanna, what is the problem?"  
  
"If you had to get her another pet, why a dog?"  
  
"I took her to a pet store on a whim. She saw a black Lab puppy. She wanted it. I let her have it. It's not that difficult to understand."  
  
"Dante, you're spoiling her. All she has to do is cry and you'd give her the Eiffel Tower."  
  
"Somebody has to. All you do is convince her that she's not worthy of you."  
  
"How would you know any of that?"  
  
"I'm her father. It's my job to know. Given our mutual natures, we share a bond that you can't understand. That's how I know. You never spend time with her; you'd rather run off with your friends. You never refuse your boss or ask for time off so you'd have extra time with her. I have to use all my free time on her. That's how I know. I take her to my office away from home, and she already knows how to play billiards. She only three games behind me. Contradict me, if you dare."  
  
Deanna remained silent long enough to get over the shock her ego suffered. Then she forced herself to ask, "What's the dog's name?"  
  
"Guess."  
  
Deanna launched her keys across the room. "Dante, I'm not in the mood for games!"  
  
"I'm not playing. That's the dog's name. Guess." Dante stood next to her so she could hear him whisper. "Get over it, dear. There's a new bitch in this house."  
  
*  
  
"Lilith!" Deanna threw several clothing articles one after another over her shoulder. "Lilith!" she called again. When she realized her daughter wasn't listening, she snatched up an armful of clothes and headed outside. She found Lilith, Dante, and Guess playing an amalgam of Frisbee and football. As she had done for the past six years, Guess stopped in her tracks and growled at Deanna. Deanna was the only one who seemed bothered by it.  
  
"Lilith!"  
  
Lilith tossed the Frisbee aside and slipped two fingers under Guess's collar. "Whatever it is, I didn't do it."  
  
Deanna held out a handful of clothes. "I have told you too many times over the past six years to keep that dog out of my things."  
  
"Sorry. I'll take responsibility."  
  
"You bet you will." Deanna slung the clothes at Lilith. "What do you expect to do about this?"  
  
Lilith pulled her hand from the collar when Dante slipped his own fingers under it. "There's no need for malevolence," Dante said. "You can always get new clothes. You've worn those only once and forgot you even had them. You wouldn't have remembered they were in your closet if Guess hadn't torn them up."  
  
"Oh, shut up!" Deanna demanded. "You're just as bad as she is. You always take the damn dog's side."  
  
"That is not true," Lilith calmly retorted. "I said I'll take care of it."  
  
"Well, I know how you can start. Get rid of the dog."  
  
Guess turned her ears back and barked at Deanna. Dante yanked the collar back, but Guess wouldn't stop until she was nearly choking. She ceased long enough to catch her breath, then began growling again. "There's no need to be so belligerent," Dante said.  
  
Deanna didn't realize he was talking to the dog. "It doesn't matter. I'll just call my friends and go out for some fresh air." She pointed at Lilith. "I'm holding you responsible for that dog."  
  
"Haven't you always?"  
  
Deanna drew her hand back as if to strike her. Dante reached up to catch Deanna's hand, but he didn't have to. Lilith's hand snatched Deanna's, and his hand landed on top of Lilith's. Dante's grip prevented Lilith from twisting Deanna's wrist back. When she comprehended what she had done, Lilith jerked her hand free. She dropped to the ground beside Guess.  
  
"Now do you understand?" Dante asked Deanna. "That is why you must be careful. You haven't seen what she can do."  
  
But I have a good idea. Deanna slowly withdrew her hand. "I need to rest. We'll discuss this later."  
  
When Deanna was gone, Dante sat on the ground on Guess's other side. "I suppose the rest of the afternoon is a bust."  
  
"Definitely." Lilith scratched Guess behind an ear. "Why do you think Guess and Mom don't get along? Since the beginning, Guess always growls and barks whenever she sees Mom."  
  
"They say that animals have a sixth sense. Maybe Guess knows something we don't. Do not ask me what it is."  
  
"What could possibly be wrong with Mom that we wouldn't notice?"  
  
"I just told you not to ask me that."  
  
*  
Guess pressed her nose against the door and scratched the wood in desperation. She stopped only when she heard the footsteps and smelled the person. A growl formed in her throat.  
  
"Hello, doggie." Guess backed from the door as Deanna approached her. She saw her feeding bowl in Deanna's hand. "Are you hungry?" Guess responded with more growling. "I knew you'd say that." Deanna placed the bowl onto the floor and gave the dog plenty of room. Guess sniffed at the food. A faint odor of borax caused her to back away. Deanna flinched as Guess began another barking rampage. "Stupid dog!"  
  
Guess bolted and snapped at Deanna's feet. The bowl of borax and dog food toppled over. Guess snagged Deanna's pant leg as Deanna fell backwards. "That's it!" Deanna screamed. "I'm through with you, you damn mutt!"  
  
*  
Lilith tossed her bookbag onto the sofa and ran for the back door. Expecting Guess to bound through it, she opened the door and stepped aside. When she saw what was left of Guess, she shrieked, then quickly covered her mouth. She jumped over the corpse and vomited onto the grass. She knew exactly who was responsible.  
  
"Deanna! Get out here, bitch!"  
  
When Deanna arrived, she saw Lilith trembling with rage. Deanna kicked the corpse pieces aside. She raised her right hand to reveal a knife. The blood dripped to her elbow. "Did you ring, you little brat?"  
  
Lilith turned and pointed at Deanna. "How could you! What the hell is wrong with you!" Lilith's face was covered with tears. "I'll kill you!"  
  
"Kill me? You won't lay a finger on me. Your father won't let you hurt me."  
  
What's wrong with you? You're bitchier than usual. "Why not?"  
  
"You may be his favorite, but he's gotta fuck."  
  
Lilith closed her eyes. She could feel the accumulated hatred of sixteen years preparing to break free. She felt her heart try to break through her chest. "To hell with you, Deanna." Deanna dropped the knife. An unusual calm fell over Lilith. When Lilith opened her eyes, drops of blood fell from them. Lilith spoke; her voice had become handsomely masculine, yet terrifying. "I will kill you."  
  
"What?" Deanna asked out of sarcasm rather than terror.  
  
Lilith's eyes glowed red. Arcs of lightning flashed across her body. "You may be a good fuck, but my father isn't here to save your ass." Her platinum hair flew about her as she was surrounded by a black light. Leathery dragon wings sprouted from her back as scaly gauntlets covered her arms. Her claws slashed across Deanna's chest as she seized her mother's shirt. "Now you die." They were engulfed by flames. With one mighty flap of her wings, Lilith took to the air. Deanna was too terrified to scream as Lilith turned upside down and flew straight for the ground.  
  
*  
"I don't know what's worse. Going to work or coming home from work." Dante wiped the last of the blood from Sparda before placing it onto the wall. He dropped the shotgun onto the desk and placed Ebony and Ivory beside it. This once, he was too tired to leave them at the office away from home. He began whistling as he walked through the office into the house. The first thing he noticed was that his daughter didn't come running to search his pockets. "There's something I don't see everyday. I actually have something to give her this time."  
  
He saw Lilith's bookbag on the sofa. "She hasn't done her homework. Strike two." He noticed that Guess didn't run into the room with her tail wagging and eyes pleading for a treat. Strike three. "Lilith!" The only response was a pulling urge in his mind. Dante followed it outside. When he opened the door, he saw Lilith standing in the yard. Though she'd returned to human form, lightning still ran across her. The grass was scorched in several places. The yard was dotted with impact craters. "Lilith?" She didn't answer but tilted her head to show she was listening. "What the hell happened?"  
  
"Guess."  
  
"Is that an answer or a demand?"  
  
"Both." Lilith spun to face him. She was covered with blood and dirt.  
  
Full of paternal worry, Dante grabbed her by both arms. "What happened!" He wiped the blood from her face, but more of it poured from her eyes. He stared at it running down her cheeks and through his fingers. It was the first time he'd seen it. "What the hell is happening to you?"  
  
"She killed my dog," Lilith said absently. "Deanna killed my dog."  
  
Dante loosened his grip but didn't release her. "How do you know?"  
  
"You can ask her when she gets out of the hospital."  
  
"Hospital?" He pulled Lilith closer. "What did you do?" Dante felt the static run through him as the lightning discharged between them.  
  
"Let's just say she has a bad habit of not listening to you."  
  
*  
A week later, Deanna regained conciousness in the hospital. Her left arm was in a cast. The right one was tightly bandaged. A dull throbbing permeated her whole body. She realized the constant beeping in her ears came from the heart monitor beside her head. Her chest ached when she breathed; she must have broken a few ribs. The last thing she recalled was terrible pain and burning alive. Her hair even had a scorched odor.  
  
"It's about time you woke up."  
  
Deanna closed her eyes. She didn't bother finding the person who spoke to her. "What are you doing here, Dante?" Her voice was raspy, and her throat hurt.  
  
"I thought it was my job to be concerned about you." She felt him take her hand. "I need to talk to you. I know this is extremely bad timing, but this is terribly important."  
  
Deanna didn't care at first. "What is it?"  
  
Dante sighed as if mustering courage. Deanna realized how significant this was before he opened his mouth. "You're moving out," he finally said.  
  
Deanna opened her eyes as quickly as possible, which was actually very slowly. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, you're going to live somewhere else, for awhile at least."  
  
Deanna forgot her condition and tried sitting up. The pain of lifting her head forced her back down. "Why?"  
  
"You know why. You and Lilith need some time apart. She almost killed you because you constantly ignored my warnings."  
  
"Why don't you get rid of her? SHE did this to ME."  
  
"Yes, but you provoked her. You slaughtered her dog. I think that's reason enough to worry. Besides, she's my daughter. In this circumstance, I have to put her before you."  
  
"I can't believe you said that."  
  
"Maybe that didn't come out right." Dante released her hand. "This is for both of your own goods. If I were to send Lilith away, it would only increase the friction. Consider it just more free time that you always wanted."  
  
He gave her time to let it sink in. "If I leave, where will I go?"  
  
"I talked to one of your party friends. I didn't tell her what really happened, but she said she'd be willing to let you stay with her."  
  
"For how long?"  
  
"I'll give you two years at most. If you can't get yourself together by then, then I won't take you back."  
  
"Will you at least..."  
  
"Don't worry. I haven't forgotten your request."  
  
*  
Lilith hit the ground head first, rolled, and skidded across the yard. Her body was crusted with her own blood. She was bruised from head to toe. She couldn't move anything below her neck. The impact had probably broken it. She felt herself suffocating with her face in the dirt as her lungs refused to expand.  
  
Dante reverted to human form and dropped beside her from the sky. He carefully placed both hands around her neck and yanked until the bones popped back into place. Lilith felt her neck tingle as the bones and spinal cord healed themselves. She inhaled deeply with relief as sensation returned to her entire body. She wiggled her toes to be sure.  
  
As if she were an infant, Dante placed her head back on the ground. He stood and rubbed his hands together. "Come inside when you can walk. In case you don't know, you're grounded for the next month." 


	4. Homecoming

Homecoming  
  
She flew over the cliff towards the sunset. Her leathery wings caught the wind and carried her over the ocean. She spread her claws to feel them resist the air. The wind currents whistled through her ears as she raced faster. A seagull flew across her path. She wasn't paying attention until it was nearly on her, and she was going too fast for either to stop. She didn't fill the impact. The dead bird fell to the water and disappeared between the waves.  
  
It gave her an idea. Folding her wings back, she dove towards the ocean. She entered the water at breakneck speed. The resultant splash shot a geyser nearly 100 feet into the air and sent violent ripples in every direction. She stayed under for nearly thirty minutes. When she finally surfaced, her leathery wings were gone. Her black scaly skin had been replaced by brown human skin. Long platinum hair flowed behind her. Her glowing red eyes had become deep blue. Lilith Divinity Sparda slowly paddled her way back to shore. When she reached solid rock, she pulled herself completely from the water before leaping the entire distance up the cliffside.  
  
Soaking wet and squeaking in leather, Lilith trudged to the motorcycle waiting for her. As if in a trance, she slowly reached for the small card she'd found tied to the handle that morning. She opened it and read it for the fifteenth time that day. " Had to go to work. Sorry I have to miss your eighteenth. See you when I return. Love, Dad". Lilith released it and picked up the helmet. She turned for one final glimpse of the sunset before leaving. She had a long way to go.  
  
*  
Finally free of the salt, Lilith turned off the shower. She didn't bother reaching for a towel. She simply flicked off the light and stepped into her room. She listlessly treaded over to the dresser and pulled out her underwear and t-shirt. Rather than endure the effort of putting them on, she slung them across her bed. Her eyes lowered to a statue on the dresser. With only the light of twilight through the window to see with, she picked it up. It was a figure of a genuflecting man carrying a giant hourglass over his shoulder. She could never be sure, but sometimes the hourglass appeared to glow with a shimmering yellow light inside. She literally owned it since the day she was born. Dante told her he'd found it on the job long ago, before she was born, in a castle on a remote island. Though she had constantly asked for details about that particular trip, something in his face always made her back away, as if she had inadvertently reminded him of something precious he'd lost. For one minute she'd feel guilty for having asked the question; the next minute she'd hate herself for not asking it again.  
  
She placed the statue back in it's spot and looked at her reflection. It hit her only then that she was soaking wet. Rather than go back for a towel, she closed her eyes. With her mind, she reached within her soul until she found her spark. She summoned a pinch of its power to raise her body temperature a few degrees. She was dry in a few minutes. She redirected the energy to dry her hair. When she was sure she was done, she gradually reduced her temperature to normal and got dressed. Then she slid onto the bed and cuddled with her pillow to watch the nightfall.  
  
*  
Dante aimed for the nearest phantasm and pulled the trigger. The shotgun pellets ripped the thing in half. It dropped the ax, which sliced through another phantasm below it. They kept coming, one after the other. He calmly took them down while taking a few hits. He did not realize that the wraiths had cornered him until the final one shattered.  
  
As the bits rained on him, a hissing above caught his attention. Dante put the shotgun away; he knew exactly what he wanted to do with this one. He waited patiently for the reptilian beast to vault at him. Almost before it did, Dante sidestepped and swung with Alastor. With the final hit, he knocked the beast into the air. Dante whipped out Ebony and Ivory and began shooting it in mid-air. It didn't fall until Dante finished blasting, but it was already dead long before then.  
  
A quick survey assured him nothing else was waiting to ambush him. He sprinted down the corridor. He found the wall he was looking for at a dead end. There was a small hole near the floor. He braced himself and delivered a powerful kick to the weak spot. Half the wall crumbled to the floor. Dante stepped back and covered his nose and mouth. When the dust settled, Dante found a sparkle of light amidst the debris. He reached for it and held it to his face. It was a red gem on a chain. As if something were weighing him down, Dante stuffed it into a pocket and prepared to fight his way back to the outside world.  
  
*  
  
The next day Lilith repeated her demon flight. This time, a few minutes after she lay on her bed to watch the beginning of twilight, she felt a familiar pressure in the back of her head. "Enter!"  
  
Dante slowly opened the door. He slid halfway through as if expecting his daughter to attack. When she didn't, he slid all the way through and closed the door. The dimness and silence actually unnerved him. "Lilith?"  
  
"Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Then that's all that matters."  
  
Guilt jumped in Dante's throat. "I'm sorry I missed your birthday."  
  
Lilith rolled onto her back. "This is the eighth time consecutively you've missed my birthday. You should be used to it by now." Dante's eyebrows crinkled. It was the closest thing to a flinch he could manage. Lilith picked it up anyway. She turned back towards the window. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."  
  
Dante sat on the edge of her bed. "No, it's all right. You have a right to be angry. You mustn't forget that you are part human."  
  
"One quarter." After a painful silence, Lilith asked, "Where did you go?"  
  
"Switzerland."  
  
"What did you find?"  
  
"Just a gem. It's nothing for you to worry about. Where's your mother?"  
  
"Bedroom. Don't worry. I won't listen."  
  
Dante lightly elbowed her in the back. "Are you still having trouble sleeping?"  
  
Lilith hesitated before answering, "Only when you're not here." Dante's silence was the response she preferred. She felt disappointed when he rose to leave. "Dad?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Thanks for the motorcycle. It's beautiful."  
  
Again, Dante did not respond with words. He returned to the bed and leaned over her. He kissed her lightly on the temple. She closed her eyes and did not open them until she heard the door close.  
  
*  
"What is it with you women?" Dante asked Deanna.  
  
Deanna lifted her head from her pillow. "What is that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Everyone wants to go to bed early in the evening."  
  
"I'm just resting because I've been running around all day. If I were human, I'd probably be dead from exhaustion."  
  
"Have you talked to Lilith?"  
  
"No. If it's that important that I know, how is she?"  
  
"Pissed. And sad."  
  
Deanna sat up. "Did you find what you were looking for?"  
  
Dante groaned. "Can we please finish talking about Lilith?"  
  
"She's fine. She's a grown woman."  
  
"How do you know she's fine? When's the last time you talked to her? Did you even discuss this whole business with her?"  
  
Deanna rolled her eyes. "Why don't you talk to her?"  
  
"Because I'm the one who's been looking for the damn gem. I'm the one who does everything for her when she needs something while you're off working. I have to work and take care of her, and my job is life threatening! What have you done the past two years to make up for your own blunders?"  
  
"Does someone have some pent-up aggression here?"  
  
Dante's eyes narrowed into slits. "Don't be a wise ass."  
  
"Sorry. I was just trying to lighten things up. You're so humorless."  
  
Dante's face suddenly relaxed. "At least, when I did take her with me, she really acted like she wasn't there. The look on some of those demon's faces were actually pretty funny when they saw her strapped across my back next to the sword."  
  
Deanna's jaw dropped. "You took her into battle! You never told me that before! What were you thinking!"  
  
"I was just joking! Who's humorless now?"  
  
Deanna slumped over. "Point taken."  
  
"Well, actually, I did it once. After that I let Trish take her until she started school."  
  
Deanna tilted her head. "Trish? Who's Trish?" She sounded suspicious.  
  
"She's..." Dante started. "Nevermind. It's a long story from before you. You wouldn't be interested."  
  
"So, why did you leave Lilith with her?"  
  
"Let's just say she had experience dealing with 'special' children."  
  
"I see... So did you get it?"  
  
"Get what?"  
  
"The gem, stupid!"  
  
Too exhausted to comment on the abrupt change in subject, Dante pulled the gem from his pocket and held it up with the chain. Wide eyed, Deanna got to her knees and crawled to the side of the bed. As she took the gem, Dante let the chain slide from his hand. "You found it," Deanna whispered. "You actually found it." Dante's expression made her frown. "Don't look at me that way. You knew this was coming. You knew you had to deal with this."  
  
"What about Lilith?"  
  
"Like I said, she's grown now."  
  
Dante narrowed his eyes and shook his head. "How can you say that about your own daughter? She doesn't even know what's happening."  
  
"Then tell her!"  
  
"Why don't you tell her? You're the one she's going to hate." As if she didn't already.  
  
Deanna was struck speechless. She tossed the gem across the room. It landed neatly on the bureau. She rolled back to her side of the bed. "I'm sorry. We've both been stupid. Can we please not start another argument?"  
  
Dante sat on the edge of the bed with his back to her. "What about me?"  
  
Deanna sighed. "These past eighteen years and nine months were interesting, but my lack of foresight made me come here with you rather than do what had to be done."  
  
"They were going to kill you. You couldn't have done anything else. I can give you two reasons why."  
  
"Which are?"  
  
"You could never save the people of Shangri-La by yourself, and you WOULD have been alone."  
  
"Second?"  
  
"I never would have known about Lilith. On top of that, she would have been raised by a man who despised her because she's my daughter instead of his. Of course, that's completely under the assumption he would have let her live."  
  
"You're right, I guess. So, did you tell her the truth about where you went and why?"  
  
"I told her where, but not all of why."  
  
"We should both talk to her. There's no way we can lie to her and keep her out of this now."  
  
"No. I've decided that when we leave, we're taking her with us. I never lied to her before, and I won't leave her behind."  
  
Deanna nodded. "That's a good idea. Have you at least told her why you've missed her last eight birthdays?"  
  
"Not a chance. She's too upset to understand that I've been looking for that gem for the past eight years, that it has to be found during a specific time of the year, and that time of the year happens to coincide with her birthday."  
  
"I don't believe that's a coincidence. I'm sure there's a purpose behind it all." Dante felt her turn her eyes to him. "In fact, why don't you give up the demon hunting and stay with me in Shangri-La?"  
  
"Not a chance," Dante repeated. "I'm a demon hunter by heart and blood. Lilith is the same."  
  
"We should let her decide."  
  
"She's already chosen."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I'm more in tune with her than you are. Besides, my gut tells me you're getting yourself into something dangerous."  
  
"We will know nothing until we get there, then. If you keep spreading all this negativity, you'll jinx it."  
  
"How long do we have?"  
  
Deanna shrugged. "Two weeks before the portal closes permanently. After that, Shangri-La won't be accessible to this realm for seven millennia."  
  
"Sounds simple enough."  
  
Deanna crawled up behind him and nibbled his ear. "Can we make up now?"  
  
Dante didn't turn around. "What?"  
  
"You heard me." This time she bit him.  
  
*  
Arkyle dashed awkwardly towards the dining room where Lineia was having her daily glass of blood. He found her in her usual spot, her feet crossed on the table and her chair leaned back on the rear legs. "What do you want?" she inquired as if he were an obnoxious child she'd failed to kill earlier.  
  
"He found it!" Arkyle bawled. "Dante found the gem!"  
  
"Calm down, you big baby. That was supposed to happen."  
  
Arkyle cautiously approached her. When he was sure she wouldn't snap his body in half, he sat in the chair beside her. "I'm not sure it is wise of you..." Lineia shot him her nastiest look possible with her human face. "I mean," Arkyle corrected himself, "I'm not sure I can handle seeing him again."  
  
"Get over it, Arkyle," she scolded in a fatigued voice. "So he seduced your wife and got her pregnant. I'm surprised you have anything to complain about. You never slept with her yourself. You showed absolutely no interest in her until someone more attractive came along."  
  
Arkyle shifted positions in the chair. "You really thing he's more attractive?"  
  
Lineia propelled the rest of the blood into Arkyle's face. "I swear, you are such a baby. Do you need a diaper change, you dumb bastard?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Good. Now leave me the hell alone and relax. All you have to do is entertain the happy family when they arrive. I'll take care of the rest."  
  
Arkyle bowed and left. If he were a dog, his tail would have been tucked between his legs. Lineia sighed. "Idiot."  
  
*  
Lilith's nap never got off the ground. It was so rudely interrupted by the sound of rabid weasels having sex down the hallway. "It sounds more like a cat being strangled," she said to herself. She stretched out to her full length as the thought actually made her laugh. She sat up and hung her legs over the side of the bed. The hourglass on the statue was glowing again. She reached for it and cradled it in her lap. She never told Dante or Deanna what she'd been doing recently. She was afraid even Dante wouldn't understand; that thought alone was the source of many nightmares. Lilith placed a hand over the hourglass and released the thoughts in the back of her mind. An image came into her mind's eye.  
  
Dante was in a dark place. She could not make out any details of the environment. Dante was pointing a gun (she thought it was Ivory, but she couldn't be sure) at a woman familiar to her. She had long blonde hair and was dressed all in black leather. Dante was saying something to her. "You may have my mother's face, but you don't have her fire." The woman's expression was of guilt and pain. Dante may have looked angry, but Lilith sensed he was more hurt than anything. The woman called Dante's name, but he walked away from her without looking back.  
  
Lilith released the statue. Then she caught it before it hit the floor. The sound of Deanna calling Dante's name in a high pitched voice startled her. She placed the statue back on the dresser and shook her hands as if they had be shocked. "Freaks," she mumbled. "It's not fair! She feels fine enough to get her brains fucked out, but she can't bother to have her nails done with me. It's the first time in the past two years she's been home since the dog died. I swear, she is so fickle."  
  
She stood to look through the window. Dante's words in her vision ran through her head.  
  
You may have my mother's face, but you don't have her fire.  
  
In her heart, she knew exactly what Dante's words meant. The woman seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to her paternal grandmother (not to mention a woman she vaguely remembered from childhood). Dante kept a picture of her on his office desk away from home. Though Lilith had been in there only once since Dante began his quest for the gem, she remembered the picture perfectly. That same day Dante had scolded her for trying to pick up the flaming red sword called Sparda. She had promised to leave it alone if he'd told her how he got it. He didn't, but she kept her promise anyway. Then she remembered how badly she wanted to challenge him to a game of billiards.  
  
The constant banging and moaning down the hall was ultimately too much for her to handle. She ran downstairs, straight for the kitchen. She poured herself some water and strolled into the living room. She didn't turn on anything. She simply sat on the sofa and sipped her water.  
  
About an hour later she heard, "Why aren't you in bed?"  
  
"It's too early to sleep."  
  
"I'm glad someone agrees." Dressed in a bathrobe, Dante sat beside her. She passed him her glass. "Just water?"  
  
"I would give you cocoa, but you know I hate hot drinks."  
  
"Sure, I know."  
  
"Why doesn't Mom ever come to me like this?"  
  
"Because she doesn't know you like I know you. You're more like me. Of course, being separated for two years can ruin it, too."  
  
"You wouldn't have kicked her out if she hadn't killed the dog."  
  
"She might have at least kept in contact if you hadn't tried to kill her."  
  
"Does she hate me for it?"  
  
"That's an unusual question."  
  
"Is it? I've had nightmares about how that day could have ended. They were all different, and they all ended badly."  
  
"Have a bad dream lately?"  
  
"Not in my sleep. I saw something. I guess it was a vision. I don't know."  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"I touched the figurine of the god of time. I saw you pointing a gun at a woman who looked like your mother." Dante froze in the middle of a sip. "Say something," Lilith begged.  
  
"Long ago, before you were born, that woman you saw hired me to stop the Lord of the Underworld from coming to Earth."  
  
"And?"  
  
"She betrayed me."  
  
"Forgive me, but that sounds unreasonable."  
  
"She had deliberately been made in my mother's image to trap me. Rather, it was her body, but not her soul."  
  
"I sort of figured that out on my own. I need to know what's wrong with MY mother, since you won't tell me about yours."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know what I mean. I know that you got that gem for her, and I know that's why you've been missing my birthdays. I can see right through you."  
  
Dante's eyes almost took on the eerie red glow. "Your mother isn't human."  
  
"And she wants to go home. No surprise here. Just tell me why she came here with you in the first place, and had your baby, if she had no intention of staying."  
  
"I thought I could convince her otherwise. Besides, you were already conceived before she came to Earth."  
  
"What is she, and what is she trying to do?"  
  
"She's from a parallel dimension called Shangri-La. Every 7,000 years it crosses over to Earth for a limited time and is accessible via a temporary portal. She wants to return before it shifts back to its own plane."  
  
"When?"  
  
"In about two weeks."  
  
"And it won't be back for 7,000 years?" Dante nodded. Lilith chuckled sarcastically. "I hate her so much right now."  
  
"Don't say that."  
  
"Why not? Don't you hate her?"  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"She played with your emotions for eighteen years. How could you let yourself get attached to her?"  
  
"You! That's how!"  
  
"You should have taken me and run."  
  
"I tried." Dante heard Lilith gasp in the darkness. "My conscience wouldn't let me succeed. I couldn't take care of you alone and fight demons. Even if I could, I could not risk the legions of the Underworld finding out about you, at least before you were able to defend yourself."  
  
"Why would they want me?"  
  
"To kill two birds with one stone. You're Sparda's granddaughter. They would want to kill you if they couldn't corrupt you first. At the same time, it would practically obliterate my morale."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
Dante looked Lilith straight in the eye. "You are my most prized possession."  
  
After a while Lilith responded, "It's a good thing I didn't have anything in my mouth, or I would have swallowed it whole."  
  
"Damn. We're all out of Jolly Ranchers."  
  
"So, what's going on in Shangri-La now?"  
  
"Most of the place is overrun by demons. She wants to return and clean it up."  
  
"She doesn't stand a chance. For all we know, the entire place is infested and a lost cause. The least you could do is blow it up."  
  
"Already tried it."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Already tried it, but something got in the way."  
  
"I say you drop her off and leave her there."  
  
Dante made no more comments on the hostility. He was beginning to feel it himself. "She wants you to stay there with her."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"No way. I'd rather stay on Earth with you."  
  
"Deanna is the last of her line. Without you, she has no legal claim to the throne."  
  
"Then I suggest she start sucking up to someone else. I'd rather die a thousand deaths than stay there with her. You told me yourself that she had been banished in shame. You're the last of your line, too. It's a no- brainer that your job is more important. Anyway, your job is a lot more interesting."  
  
"You say that now..."  
  
"And I mean it." Lilith stood and began her trek upstairs. "I think I can sleep now. Good night."  
  
"You will let me know if anything goes wrong?"  
  
"I'll scream if I need you."  
  
"Hey, Lilith!" Dante called. Lilith stopped halfway up the stairs. "How about I take you to have you nails done tomorrow?"  
  
Lilith allowed herself to smile. "That would be great. After a cup of Rocky Road, of course."  
  
*  
It was the first time Lilith had been to Switzerland. She hated every minute of it. The trio trekked through the numerous hills and forests. Lilith stayed in the lead; she stopped just long enough to get a direction. She still did not smile when they reached their destination. Above them, at last, were castle towers among the trees. Lilith stopped long enough for Dante to reach her.  
  
"Is that the one?" she asked.  
  
"Yes," he answered, "but it might still look like shit from the last time I was there."  
  
"Granted, that's not a lot of time to clean up."  
  
"Hey!" Deanna called behind them. "Can someone give me a hand?"  
  
Dante carefully prodded Lilith on her back. "Don't try it," Lilith said. "We should have left her at the hotel." She continued up the hill. Dante reached out for her arm, but she knew it was coming. She was engulfed in a black glow and disappeared with her gear and weapons among the trees. Dante didn't bother chasing her down.  
  
Lilith stopped right before she impacted the stone wall. She dumped her gear onto the ground, then stepped back to get a good look at the castle. Her trance was interrupted when Deanna spun her around and slapped her across the face.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you!" Deanna screamed at her.  
  
By force of habit, as it had become in recent years before Deanna moved out, Dante stepped between them and moved Lilith away from Deanna. Dante brushed her hair back; he could have done it blindfolded. "Why did you run off like that?"  
  
Lilith's eyes were closed. "She could have climbed the hill herself. Why is she always trying to make me miserable?"  
  
"Don't you think you're being unfair?"  
  
Lilith looked up at him. She knew she was being at least partially unfair. At any moment, her family would be torn apart, and she would be forced to choose between two different lives, though she had already made her choice. At last, she closed her eyes and began to cry.  
  
"Oh, no," Dante said, "don't do that." He didn't really mean it. She didn't obey. For a few moments tears gushed from her eyes. Dante dried her face with the back of a gloved hand.  
  
"What's going on over there?" Deanna asked.  
  
The sound of her mother's voice spawned another crying fit. This time it wasn't water that poured from her eyes. Dante immediately recognized the red liquid that ran down her cheeks. She was crying blood. It was a dire situation. "I can't see," Lilith said through gasps.  
  
Dante put both arms around her and held her to his chest. "Calm down. You have to calm down."  
  
Deanna folded her arms. "What is going on?" she repeated impatiently. She stepped towards them but stopped when Dante extended his hand and shook his head. "Is there anything I can do?" she asked instead.  
  
Dante put his arm back around Lilith. "I think you've done enough."  
  
Deanna's eyes widened. "How dare you?"  
  
"Just give us some space. Please."  
  
Deanna threw her arms up. "Fine. I'll give you all the space you want."  
  
"Deanna! Deanna, wait!"  
  
She didn't listen. She left them there alone, and neither followed her. She wouldn't have gone far.  
  
Lilith pulled herself from Dante's embrace. "I shouldn't have done that."  
  
"You think?" Lilith didn't have the mental energy to be offended. Dante apologized anyway.  
  
"Don't lose sleep over it. Let's get this over with." Lilith sifted through the things she left on the ground. Dante dropped his own things to the ground and did the same. Lilith lifted two swords over her shoulders. "Alastor or Sparda? Which one?"  
  
"You can have Alastor if you let me take Ifrit."  
  
"What! Come on. I want Ifrit."  
  
"Alastor or Ifrit. The choice is yours." Lilith didn't take long to decide. She yielded Sparda's hilt towards Dante. "Thank you," he said as he took it. "Look on the bright side. You get to become the lightning demon."  
  
"Yes, but you know the fire demon is my preference. Not that either of us would need any of this stuff anymore."  
  
"Oh, stop bitching. Despite our spiritual upgrades, we won't go without them any time soon." Dante dumped the guns. "Shotgun, or Ebony and Ivory?"  
  
"Ebony and Ivory." Dante rolled his eyes at her. "Fine. How about I take them now, and we can alternate equipment on a whim?"  
  
"Do you have any idea how disadvantageous that is?"  
  
"Will it stop your complaining? You have more stuff than I do, regardless."  
  
"Whatever. Let's just go."  
  
*  
Three hours later, the trio was running down a hallway. Dante was the first to reach the nearest door. He opened it and stepped aside for Deanna and Lilith. As soon as he slammed the door shut, he and Lilith leaned against it. "Is it gone?" Deanna whispered. There was a faint tapping on the other side. After a few seconds, the tapping was replaced by scraping. Lilith wiped sweat from her face with a shaky hand. That thing on the other side of the door had nearly severed her head twice. She was not relieved when the scraping was replaced by total silence.  
  
Dante signaled to Lilith with his head to step away from the door. As soon as she moved to comply, a ton of force blasted the door to pieces. Deanna was knocked to the floor. Lilith and Dante were blown clear across the room. Lilith hit the wall at over 100 miles per hour. The impact completely emptied her lungs and shattered some bones. It also glued her to the wall, which refused to crumble despite the impact. Before gravity could overcome friction, a large wooden stake impaled her to the wall. She coughed up blood before losing consciousness.  
  
Dante nearly went through the wall on the other side of the room. Being considerably stronger than Lilith, he pushed himself to the floor and reached for Sparda. The creature pulled itself into the room on its three oversized claws. One of its large eyes turned towards Dante. Dante strafed until he was between Lilith and the beast. The large eye followed him the entire time. The creature opened its mouth. Dante could see its heart at the back of its throat. It stood still as if waiting for him to make the first move. When he didn't, it roared a challenge. Dante took a wide step forward and thrust Sparda down its throat. The blade extended until it pierced the heart. Black blood spurted in all directions. Dante turned Sparda to the side and yanked it free. The heart ripped in half and plopped onto the floor in a heap of corrosive blood. The monster backed out of the room, but it could not go far. Dante sprayed it with shotgun pellets until it stopped moving. Then he put a shot in each eye, just to be safe.  
  
When Dante turned around, the first thing he saw was Lilith skewered to the wall. He grabbed the stake and yanked it with all his remaining strength. It resisted at first, but it eventually pulled free with a sloppy wet timbre. He tossed the stake aside and caught Lilith as she slid down the wall. She'd left an impact crater roughly shaped like her body. He stretched her out on the floor to carefully probe her for injuries. She winced and awoke when he ran a finger across her ribcage.  
  
"Don't speak," he said to save her the trouble of trying. "Just heal. You're safe for now." He knew she was in bad shape when she obeyed without resistance. With some effort, he could hear her bones pop as she psychically forced them back into their proper places. He dragged himself to where Deanna was sitting. "Are you all right?"  
  
"As well as can be expected. Maybe we should've stayed at home."  
  
Dante mentally noted that she showed no concern over Lilith's condition. "We won't back out now."  
  
"Of course not. That would be a waste."  
  
An hour later they continued on. Deanna led them to the highest point of the castle. Nothing else attacked them, but that actually made them feel uneasy. In a room at the top of the tower, they found exactly what they were looking for. A map of Shangri-La was carved into the floor. Deanna took the gem and inserted it in a groove where Shangri-La's castle would be.  
  
Lilith shivered as the room temperature suddenly dropped. A bright light engulfed the room. They felt the floor disappear. For about a minute they floated in the middle of bright nothingness. Then they plunged into water, and the light died.  
  
Deanna surfaced first. She looked over the beach. It was definitely familiar to her. It was the same beach she had played on as a child. "We did it," she said. "We made it." Without looking around for Dante nor Lilith, she began swimming to shore.  
  
*  
Lilith's first thought was, "She's leaving us. She's leaving us out here to drown." She allowed herself to drift for a moment. She was still too tired to fight the currents. Dante seized her from above and pulled her to the surface. Neither spoke as he dragged her to dry land where Deanna waited. 


	5. Greeks Bearing Gifts

Greeks Bearing Gifts  
  
"Is this how it happened the first time you came here?" Lilith asked as she and Dante pulled themselves from the water. It didn't seem so tiring when the water level had dropped to her knees.  
  
"Yes, and it wasn't fun then either." He heard Lilith gulp. "Are you all right?"  
  
She gulped again. "Only if nausea's a good sign." Dante held her by her arm as she leaned to the side. Most of what she vomited was salt water. When she was done, she took a handful of clean seawater to wash her face. She stood up and saw Deanna already walking along the beach. "Where's Mom going?"  
  
If she's still your mother. "She's going home."  
  
"Shouldn't we stop her? What if she gets caught? No one knows the condition of the place nor the people in it."  
  
"I have a hunch. Just follow along."  
  
*  
The palace was a blurry spot against the horizon. Deanna was in her own dreamworld. When she reached flat land, she saw a sparkle of light in the distance. "That's it. I made it." She inhaled several times to ease the aches in her chest. With her mind stranded on her destination, she skipped towards the lights. The sound of percussion music greeted her ears as she got closer. After trekking nearly three miles, she finally saw the palace clearly up ahead. She stepped within the city limits. By the standards of most modern Earth civilizations, the city was ancient. The buildings were made of stone. Two people took her hands and carried her towards the palace along a dirt street with broken cobblestones. Everything was exactly as she recalled. It never seemed unusual to her that these people took her. She didn't notice their appearances either. She was home.  
  
*  
"There is something terribly wrong here," Lilith whispered. She and Dante had reached the city limits two hours after Deanna had. They were in no hurry to get there, and Lilith was obviously in pain, though she tried to disguise it.  
  
"Don't worry about that right now," Dante said. "Just keep going." He noticed the townspeople turning to stare, though none of them attempted to deter him and Lilith. Their eyes were alien at first, then became strangely human. One of them clutched Lilith's arm. She screamed in pain. A bolt of electricity shot from Alastor, through Lilith's body, and into the man's hand. When Dante turned to face the one who grabbed Lilith, all he saw was a blur in the corner of his eye. Then it was gone. No one acted as if they noticed anything happened.  
  
Lilith pulled Alastor free and leaned against it. Electricity swirled across her hands. "I guess it pays to be a lightning demon after all."  
  
Dante placed a hand on her shoulder. "What happened? Did you see something?"  
  
Lilith looked at him. He knew she was terrified. "They're all tainted. Every single one of them." She attempted to stand up, but another painful shock dropped her to the ground. Alastor fell beside her.  
  
Dante sighed. "You might not be cut out for this, kid." Then again, who can survive impacting a wall at 100 mph? Who can survive having a mother who doesn't care if you're even breathing?  
  
*  
Memories resurfaced as Deanna let her guides lead her into and through the palace. "Where are you taking me? I'll know the way." Neither answered. They led her onward to the dining area. Much to her surprise and delight, there was a party going on in there. Aristocrats and courtesans from her childhood were eating, drinking, and conversing merrily. The only person she didn't recognize was a tall woman in a black bra and panties under a diaphanous gown. Her long blonde hair was tied up on her head. Everything stopped cold when Deanna entered. All eyes turned to her.  
  
The blonde woman put down her glass of what appeared to be thick red wine and stood. "What do we have here?"  
  
"Who are you?" Deanna asked.  
  
"My name is Lineia. I have come to welcome you home."  
  
Deanna ignored her gut feeling. This was almost her dream come true. "This isn't as I expected."  
  
"What? Did you think we were going to kill you?" The room exploded in laughter. Lineia gestured towards an empty seat. "Don't worry. No one will bite." Deanna accepted the offer. She could not remember why she had really come to Shangri-La in the first place.  
  
*  
"You can't come in here!" The sentinels surrounded Dante with halberds brandished. He wasn't worried.  
  
"Get the hell out of my way."  
  
"I said you can't come in here!"  
  
"What is going on!" All turned to the two women walking down the hallway. Dante sucked air through clenched teeth when he saw them. It wasn't the blonde in the clear dress that caught his attention. It was Deanna beside her. "What is happening?" the blonde asked.  
  
"This man," the sentinel pointed his halberd towards Dante's face for emphasis, "tried to just waltz in here."  
  
"Point that thing in my face again," Dante threatened, "and I'll shoot you."  
  
"It's all right," Deanna said to the woman. "He's no threat. You can let him through."  
  
"Very well, then. Let him pass." Lineia saw the body he carried over his shoulder. "Is she injured?"  
  
"I don't know. She lost consciousness in the street." He glimpsed at Deanna to see a change in her expression. There was none.  
  
The woman nodded at one sentinel. "Take her."  
  
"No," Dante said. The sentinel Dante had threatened earlier pointed his halberd at Dante's face again. Keeping his word, Dante whipped out Ebony and plastered the man's brains against the wall at point blank range.  
  
"Stop!" the woman demanded before anyone else moved. "Take her!" she ordered again. This time Dante let them take Lilith from his shoulder. As they carried her away, the blonde asked, "Who is she?"  
  
Dante opened his mouth to answer, but Deanna beat him to it. "His daughter." Dante could not recall the last time he was shocked speechless. Then he realized it was because he never had been.  
  
"She's your daughter?" the woman asked him.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Where's her mother?"  
  
"I wish I knew."  
  
"You don't say." She smirked. "What's her name?"  
  
"Lilith."  
  
"How lovely. I hope she'll be all right."  
  
So do I. "And who are you?"  
  
"My name is Lineia. Welcome. I can tell you're not from Shangri- La."  
  
"Is that so?" Dante didn't wait for an answer. He pushed past her, but she seized Sparda by the hilt. "What?"  
  
"No weapons."  
  
"You can't be serious."  
  
"No weapons. If you are truly no threat, then why would we threaten you?" She called forth more sentinels who stripped him of Alastor, Sparda, Ifrit, and all his guns. The entire time he scowled at Deanna. "Don't fret. You can have them back when you leave. In the meantime, why don't you join us?"  
  
"No. I'd rather be with my daughter right now."  
  
"Okay," Lineia said slowly. "If you hurry, you can catch them."  
  
"No rush. I can find her. I always find her." On a whim, he took one look at the sentinel dragging Alastor across the floor. "Be careful with that. Carry it over your shoulder." When the sentinel attempted to do so, Alastor flipped itself into the air and fell pointed downward. It impaled the sentinel to the floor. Amused, Dante watched him choking on his own body fluids. "You know," Dante said, "that happened to me once."  
  
"Help me," the sentinel managed to beg.  
  
"Why? Just get up the same way I did."  
  
"H-how?"  
  
Dante pretended he honestly didn't know what else to say. "I just stood up."  
  
As he strolled after Lilith, Lineia spun around to face Deanna. "That must be Dante."  
  
"That would be him."  
  
"The girl."  
  
Deanna shifted her weight. "What about her?"  
  
Lineia smiled. "Nothing. She is a lovely girl. But it is sad when a child must grow up without a mother. I wonder where that woman could be." Completely ignoring the sentinel still nailed to the floor, she tugged at her ear as she walked back towards the dining room. Then she stopped and turned back to Deanna. "Before I forget. There's someone here who wants to meet you."  
  
"Really? Who?"  
  
"Arkyle."  
  
*  
Lilith shifted on the bed in restless sleep. Tossing his gloves aside, Dante sat beside her and affectionately took her hand. He could sense that she was having a dream about Deanna. She whimpered several times in her sleep until a final cry of terror woke her. She gripped Dante's hand with adrenaline enhanced strength. Lilith leaned her head back to breathe easier. When she calmed down, she cried again. It was blood.  
  
"Everything's okay now?" Dante asked softly.  
  
"I feel like I just gave birth." Lilith stretched out her legs. "Why'd she do it?"  
  
"What do you mean?" He already knew the answer.  
  
"I heard what was going on. I heard what Mom said."  
  
Dante relaxed his face. "You heard all of it?"  
  
"She didn't even claim me. She said 'his daughter' instead of 'our daughter.' Why did she do that?"  
  
"Everything's been going wrong for the past few years."  
  
"She's been more concerned with coming home than taking care of me. It's like she never wanted to be with us."  
  
"That's not true."  
  
"You didn't see what I saw. Then there's the whole fiasco of the past two years."  
  
Dante wiped the blood from her eyes. "There's something going on with your powers. First it was the visions. Now there's the tears of blood. I worry about the blood the most. The same thing happened the day Guess died."  
  
"I never cried blood until you started looking for that damn gem."  
  
"Don't worry about Deanna. You're still mine, and I won't leave without you."  
  
"Thank you." Lilith pushed herself to a sitting position. "Whatever happens, don't trust her. She's just like everyone else here. She has been since we arrived in Switzerland. Sadly enough, she might not truly know it."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"It probably began before you started missing my birthdays."  
  
"That will never happen again. So tell me what you know about this place."  
  
Lilith leaned forward and smiled. She said in her best creepy voice, "They're all tainted." The smile faded. "There isn't a single Shangri-Lan left alive. They have all been replaced by demonic minions. The smell of death lingers in the air, almost like there was a slaughter."  
  
"Do you know of Lineia?"  
  
"She's one of them, but there's something else about her. There's something I can't put my finger on. It's as if she's deliberately hiding it from me."  
  
Dante put his elbow on his knee and supported his chin on his fist. "I wish I could share your vision. Then maybe I could help you."  
  
Lilith rubbed her hand. "You should have given me Sparda. Alastor bit me."  
  
"Sparda is my father's sword. There is no way I'd let you have it while I live."  
  
Lilith rolled her eyes. "We'll see." In an abrupt change of emotion, she punched the bed. "I seriously wish we weren't here right now."  
  
"There's no point in whining about it. If we don't deal with it now, then someone else will have to deal with it seven millennia from now."  
  
"Would it still be our problem?"  
  
"I'll be honest with you. I don't know my own lifespan. What if we're both alive 7,000 years from now?"  
  
"That would both rock and suck. I don't know how, but I know it's true."  
  
Dante laughed. "Don't worry. From now on, you are the priority. You always have been. If we must make a certain sacrifice, then so be it."  
  
"Are you honestly prepared to do that?"  
  
"If I have no other choice, then yes."  
  
*  
The dining room emptied methodically as Lineia chased everyone out like they were children she wished she could kill. Eventually, there were only Deanna and Arkyle. The only sound was Arkyle tapping his fingers on the table. Deanna sat on the other side of the table.  
  
"Why sit all the way over there, dear wife?" he asked. "Come over here where I can touch you."  
  
"I'm fine over here. Thank you. And don't call me wife."  
  
"Right. So, how have you been these past eighteen years?"  
  
"Homesick."  
  
"Good. Is the family all right?"  
  
"What family?"  
  
Arkyle stopped tapping. "Don't play innocent. I know you brought Dante with you. Everybody knows. It appears I'm the only one who hasn't seen the little bundle of misery you disgracefully brought into the world."  
  
"I am no disgrace. I am still Min Ná."  
  
"Min Ná are all dead. You are nothing."  
  
"You are nobody to tell me such things."  
  
"Then you won't mind if I be honest with you. Why did you return?"  
  
"This is my home."  
  
"Not anymore. Anyone with the least bit of sense would have stayed on Earth. You only think you belong here. You can thank Lineia for that."  
  
"That's bullshit, and you know it."  
  
"You are bullshit, and you know it. Nobody wants you. The only reason we summoned you is because we really want the girl."  
  
Deanna raised her eyebrows. "Summoned me? No one summoned me. I came here of my own free will to reclaim what's rightfully mine."  
  
"Think what you want." Arkyle smirked. "Nobody wants you," he repeated. "You are nothing to us. When we get what we want, you will all die, starting with you."  
  
"What is it about Lilith that any of you would give a damn about?"  
  
"Her name is Lilith? You'd be able to answer your own question if you were a better mother."  
  
"A better mother!" Deanna slapped the table and stood. "How dare you say such a thing about something you know nothing of!"  
  
"Then why don't you ask Lilith? She knows more about your parenting skills, or lack thereof, better than anybody."  
  
Deanna sat down again. "Is that why you called me to the dining room? To torture and offend me?"  
  
"You torture yourself. You're blind to what's going on around you. As soon as we're done, you're dead. Don't believe me if you don't want to. It won't change the outcome. Why do you think I'd be so brazen to tell you any of this?"  
  
"You're pathetic. You can do nothing to me."  
  
"I'm not the one who's doing it."  
  
"I don't care what you say. My life has been fine on Earth, but I belong here."  
  
"Where do they belong?"  
  
"They belong anywhere they please."  
  
"Even Lilith?"  
  
Deanna scratched her head in frustration. "Whatever. I will ask. They won't complain."  
  
"Will you bet your life on it?"  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You have no idea what you're getting into. You'll lose that bet."  
  
"We'll see." Deanna stood. This time she intended to leave. "This is my land. This is my empire. That is my throne. Not yours."  
  
"Were they worth it?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Dante and Lilith. Were they worth your betrayal of your sacred vows and centuries of tradition?"  
  
"There were no sacred vows. We were married in name only."  
  
"But we were married, and we still are. Therefore, you are at the mercy of your own traditions. Don't think you will not pay for your actions."  
  
"That's fine by me." Deanna knocked her chair over deliberately. She took only three steps when Arkyle asked her a question. "What was that?" she asked.  
  
"What was Lilith's first word?"  
  
"What difference does it make?"  
  
"Just food for thought."  
  
Deanna raised her fist and casually lifted her middle finger. Then she turned and marched out of the dining room. She went straight for where she'd been told Lilith was staying. It occurred to her only briefly that she had asked for the location only because she saw Dante follow Lilith. She pounded on the door as if she intended to raze it. She was startled when Dante opened the door.  
  
"What do you want?" Dante asked.  
  
"I want to talk to Lilith."  
  
"Why? She doesn't want to talk to you."  
  
"I'd rather be the judge of that. Why are you here?"  
  
"She's my daughter. It's my job to give her that shoulder to cry on when she's been backstabbed."  
  
"It's not what you think!"  
  
"No, it's what she thinks."  
  
"You're right, okay? So, may I please come in?" Dante stepped aside to let her through. She saw Lilith lying on the bed in the fetal position. Lilith's back was turned to her. "Lilith? It's Mom."  
  
"She won't answer you," Dante said.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"She said so."  
  
"Did she say that to you?"  
  
"Would you prefer she said it to you?"  
  
Deanna flailed her arms in desperation. "Why would she say that?"  
  
"Maybe it had something to do with the whole 'his daughter' thing earlier. Before that, it was your need to run up here and leave us behind in the water. To drown, for all you knew. The list is several years long. Where shall we begin?"  
  
"I knew you would make it up here. As for the whole semantics issue, I did it for your own good."  
  
"Why? Don't try to believe that no one knows. Everyone knew when you left nearly twenty years ago. Wait, you didn't leave. You were kicked out."  
  
"Okay. I see where this is going. I didn't come here for that. I came to talk to Lilith. Do I have your permission to do so?"  
  
"Can it wait? She's still trying to recover from the trip."  
  
"Whatever. I'll talk to you two in the morning, then?"  
  
"Only if she wants to, which I seriously doubt."  
  
"We'll see. She doesn't hate me."  
  
"I'd more wisely hear that statement from her. She's most qualified to make that judgment. Don't you agree?"  
  
"This is ridiculous. Just let me say something to her. Please."  
  
Dante scratched the side of his mouth. In the corner of his vision, he saw Lilith curl tighter. "She's counting on me to be the better parent. That requires that I keep my promises. That, in turn, means I can't let you go anywhere near her."  
  
Deanna huffed as if he had told a bad joke. "Why would she ask for such a stupid promise? She's a grown woman. She doesn't need you to watch her back all the time. Can't I at least hug her and hope she gets well soon?"  
  
"Hug her? How many times have you hugged her in your entire life?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know exactly what I mean. You always had an excuse for keeping your distance. Your head hurt. You were busy. You didn't want her to ruin your clothes. Your back hurt. You were too tired. My personal favorite: you didn't want to accidentally incite something she couldn't control, only to actually do it later. Whether she was happy, angry, sad, or sick, I took care of everything.  
  
"Who beat up the monsters in her closet? Who attended every school play and band recital? Who was at the soccer games? Who played with her in the rain puddles? Who comforted her when she cried? Who got up at 6:00 to suffer through Saturday morning cartoons with her? Who taught her how to ride a bike? Who stayed up by her bed every time she had a bellyache, the flu, or a fever? Every single answer to those questions is the same. Me, and only me."  
  
Deanna swung her palm at Dante's face. He parried it with his hand and pushed her away. She braced herself against the doorpost. "You're full of it." Deanna hastened to Lilith's side. She seized Lilith's arm and began shaking her. Before Lilith had to react, Deanna found Dante's hand crushing her wrist.  
  
The sour look on his face was enough to keep her silent. "If you touch her again," Dante said, "I swear, I'll kill you."  
  
Deanna took that as a cue to leave. She winced in pain just before Dante's grip began breaking bones. When they both realized what was happening, he forced himself to slowly release her and gave her room to leave. She saved Dante the trouble of closing the door himself. A few seconds after Deanna left, Lilith started crying again. This time it was just water.  
  
"I'm sorry you had to hear that," Dante said. Lilith didn't respond. "What is it this time?" Dante asked with genuine concern.  
  
"I know you're tired of this."  
  
"I'll have time to grow tired of it when you stop doing it. Now what's wrong?"  
  
"She doesn't know. She doesn't know what they've done to her."  
  
"Deanna? What have they done to her?"  
  
The words were out of Lilith's mouth before she realized she had thought of them. "She has my mother's face, but not her fire."  
  
*  
  
"Indeed," Lineia said as she poked the sparkle of light in her palm. "Children!" Her call was followed by growling, howling, and cackling from the surrounding darkness. "It's dinner time!" 


	6. Sparda's Sorrow

Sparda's Sorrow  
  
"I can't sleep here," Lilith said. "We need to leave. Now."  
  
"What's the hurry?" Dante asked.  
  
"I just have this feeling that if I fall asleep, something will try to sneak in here and slit my throat. I hate this palace. I hate this city. I hate this entire realm of existence. We should have stayed on Earth."  
  
"I agree with you, but we can't leave without our weapons."  
  
"Then we'll just have to find them. The traditional way."  
  
"Looking?"  
  
Lilith smiled. "You read my mind. When do we start?"  
  
"Right now." Dante slipped his gloves on and reached into his pocket. "Do you feel like you could take on a demon without collapsing?"  
  
"I could take on an arena full of them."  
  
"You're lying, but I'll ignore it. Hold out your arm."  
  
Lilith extended her left arm. Dante pulled what she thought was a watch out of his pocket and tied it around her wrist. When she got a closer look at it, she saw it was actually a strange bracelet. "What is this?"  
  
"It's called the Bangle of Time. I picked it up on a job long ago."  
  
"The one where you fought Mundus?"  
  
Dante furrowed his eyebrows. "How did you..."  
  
"About Mundus? Grandpa's former employer? The Lord of the Underworld Grandpa rebelled against to protect Earth from a demonic invasion? And then you had to do the same thing? How could I not know?" She slid off the bed and looked at the bracelet again. "What does this thing do? How do I use it?"  
  
"You'll know when you need it. Trust me."  
  
"That sounds reasonable, considering who just said it. What do we do now?"  
  
"We find my stuff, and then you get caught."  
  
Lilith placed her hands on her hips and leaned forward. "I'm sorry. I missed that last part. I do what?"  
  
"We can't leave Deanna behind without at least attempting to get her out of here. If anything comes up, then we can leave."  
  
"Oh come on! Why? Did you try to save YOUR mother when she betrayed you?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Lilith threw both hands over her face as if to ward off a strike. "I am so sorry! I didn't mean that!"  
  
After a long silence, Dante said, "I know." Lilith lowered her hands to her mouth. "The only reason you said it was to find a reason not to go back for Deanna. I won't take it personally. THIS TIME!"  
  
Lilith bowed her head. "You're right. Just don't use the glowing eyes thing that was so popular when I was little."  
  
"Fine. Remind me later to tell you that story, so you'll know what really happened."  
  
*  
  
Lineia rolled the sparkle of light back and forth across her palm. She rocked herself on the throne to a tune only she heard. The door opened to admit three people into the throne room. Two of them were palace sentinels. The third was Deanna. The sentinels were dragging her limp body across the floor. When they got as close as Lineia would allow, one of them grabbed Deanna's hair and pulled her head up. Her face was covered with her own blood.  
  
"Oh dear," Lineia said in mock concern. "Did they hurt you? I'm so sorry. I told them only to bring you here." Lineia motioned to the sentinels to leave Deanna with her. They dropped her to the floor and exited. Deanna managed to push herself to her knees. "Is something wrong?" Lineia asked. She continued to sound concerned.  
  
Deanna didn't raise her head. "Why did they do this to me?" she asked weakly.  
  
"Because you have something I want." Lineia spoke as if she were struggling with an accent. "And I want it now."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Deanna put a hand on her chest to ease the pain.  
  
Lineia put her hand on Deanna's chin and lifted Deanna's face. "I'm talking about Lilith. Your daughter. She is your daughter, isn't she? Don't think I didn't know. Everybody knew."  
  
"What? What is it about Lilith that you want?"  
  
"It has to do with her lineage. We would have taken Dante if he were younger. Lilith, on the other hand, is still practically a baby. She's easier to control."  
  
"That doesn't answer my question. What are you talking about?"  
  
"What am I talking about?" Lineia released Deanna and stood. "I'm talking about the blood of Sparda!"  
  
"Sparda," Deanna whispered to herself.  
  
"That's right. It is better that we take Lilith anyway. She has latent powers that even Dante doesn't understand. Her soul would be such a precious commodity. Imagine if I could fuse those powers with my own. Those powers came down from a being who successfully rebelled against Mundus. Just imagine the possibilities! Besides, she was next on my list."  
  
"You're starting to sound like a damn child."  
  
Lineia licked her lips. "Really? Maybe I'm being a little selfish. Maybe you would like to know the real reason you just had to come home, despite the fact that no one wants you here. Other than me, of course." Lineia dropped the sparkle of light onto the floor next to Deanna. "Do you see that, Deanna? That is why you returned."  
  
Deanna reached out to touch the sparkle of light. An aura of cold air prevented her from attempting to hold it. "What is that?"  
  
"It's your soul." Deanna looked at her with wide eyes. "Well," Lineia corrected herself, "it's half of your soul."  
  
Deanna stared at her in disbelief. "How?"  
  
"The night before your unfortunate exile, your soul was extracted from your body while you slept. We needed you alive, so we split your soul in half and gave you just enough to keep you functional. The part we kept was used to summon you back when Lilith was ready. Sadly for Lilith, the part of you that had any maternal instinct stayed here with us." Deanna opened her mouth to say something, then closed it. "Don't act like that hurt," Lineia said. "You know you were a negligent mother. When's the last time you even got a Mother's Day gift? You killed her dog, for crying out loud!"  
  
Deanna pretended not to listen. She reached out for the sparkle again. Lineia's heel descended upon it. Deanna shivered in horror as she heard the sound of glass shattering under Lineia's foot. She curled on the floor and wept. Lineia covered her mouth with her hand. "Oops! Did I do something bad? Don't worry. It'll clear right up. Look, we have visitors!"  
  
Deanna didn't turn around to see what Lineia was referring to. She didn't realize what was going on until more sentinels dropped Lilith on the floor beside her. Despite the pain in her chest, Deanna screamed.  
  
"Stop it!" Lineia scolded. "I declare, you sound like someone's killing you."  
  
Deanna crawled to Lilith's side. "I'm sorry," Deanna said, "for everything, now that I know why it happened like this." Lilith closed her eyes as if not to listen.  
  
"That is so," Lineia sighed, "disgusting." She nodded to one sentinel. "Please do something about this."  
  
The sentinel stepped forward. Deanna was completely unaware of him. He raised his halberd over his head and plunged it straight through Deanna's neck. Deanna could not cry out. Lilith did it instead. She was greeted by the sight of her mother dying beside her. The sentinel pulled the halberd free as a flame shot through Deanna's neck and severed her head before she hit the floor. Lilith covered her mouth with one hand and tried to push herself away, but her feet kept slipping in the blood puddle. She accidentally tasted some of the blood on her hands, but refused to admit to herself that she liked the flavor.  
  
"Don't bother crying," Lineia said. "You don't have the time." She leaned over Lilith's head. "Now, where is Dante?" Lilith didn't answer. "It's like that? I don't suppose you let yourself get captured on purpose? I imagine you're almost if not just as strong as he is. It would require several grown men simply to slow you down. Am I right?"  
  
Lilith tried to stand up. Lineia snatched her to her feet by her shirt and slammed her into the throne. Lilith fought to prevent the chair from falling backwards. "Well, I'm stronger than you are," Lineia pointed out. "There is no way you're leaving this place alive. You will soon be just like her." Lineia pointed to Deanna's head on the floor. Lilith's face twitched. "You're not going to cry, are you? By all means, do so."  
  
"What's it to you?"  
"Your mother is dead. She's fresh worm food. Do not pretend that means nothing to you. You're halfway to being an orphan."  
  
Lilith resisted vomiting on Lineia just because Lineia was so upbeat. "Don't talk about my mother that way."  
  
"If I don't, you will."  
  
"That's not true." Lilith watched Lineia grin as her vision blurred. Fresh blood flooded her eyes. This time, they were not tears of sadness. They were tears of hate.  
  
"That's what I want," Lineia said. She leaned forward and brushed away a blood tear with her finger. The blood droplet balanced on her nail. "Do you know what this is, Lilith? This is your birthright!"  
  
"What do you mean?" Lilith asked slowly with authentic curiosity.  
  
"This blood is linked to the power that makes you what you are. When these tears are shed in hate, they make you stronger. Can't you feel it?"  
  
Lilith definitely felt something. Her knuckles were ashen from grasping the armrests. "I don't understand."  
  
"Look at that." Lineia pointed to Deanna, but Lilith's gaze didn't follow. "You hate me, don't you? Don't hold it in. Use it. You have the outside world convinced that you're human, but you know you are not. End the charade right now, and let me see the real you."  
  
There was a cold silence for a few seconds. "No," Lilith said at last. "I don't care what the world thinks I am. There is no charade."  
  
More blood gushed from Lilith's eyes. Lineia took another drop. This time she licked it. "There is a name for these, you know? They are called Sparda's Sorrow."  
  
"Why is that?"  
  
"You're shedding the blood of Sparda. These tears were spawned by sorrow. It's a beautiful name. Don't you agree?"  
  
Lilith turned her head until she saw Deanna in her peripheral vision. "Why did you kill my mother?"  
  
"She was a tramp. Don't try to make me feel guilty. You tried killing her yourself once."  
  
Lilith shot Lineia a nasty glare. Her eyes appeared as if they were fighting the urge to shoot fire. "My mother was no tramp!"  
  
"Says who? Face it. Your mother's only purpose in life was breeding. You are the only thing she ever gave your father that made him happy without a catch-22. Of course, he won't have you for long."  
  
Lilith leaned forward as she felt knots forming under her shoulder blades. She resisted the urge to transform. She longed for Lineia's blood, but she knew she should not have it.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lineia teased. "Is the monster having a little trouble?"  
  
"The only monster," Lilith managed to say between gasps, "is your own."  
  
"There's one I've heard before. You've probably never transformed under duress. No doubt Dante forbade it to protect the people you were around, but he should have known that such a thing could not be kept from you. It is your birthright as much as it is his. Stop fighting it. Let me see the real you."  
  
"This is the real me."  
  
"No, it's not. The real you wants to kill me right now and pretend none of this ever happened. Now's your chance. Go for it."  
  
"No." As Lilith spoke, more blood flowed down her face. A lot of it dripped down her chest to her abdomen. She felt herself losing the battle.  
  
"Stop fighting it!"  
  
"No!" Lilith sat back when she heard a whistle. Something red slashed across Lineia's face and embedded itself into the floor. Lineia shrieked in fury and spun to butcher whomever did that. Dante stood on the other side of the room. He was fully armed and ready to do some butchering of his own.  
  
"You are indeed very resourceful," Lineia said while wiping blood from her face. "I like that in a man, especially a human one." Lineia tilted her head. "Then again, that doesn't really apply to you, does it?" She stuck her bloody fingers into her mouth.  
  
Dante dared not make a move. The sentinels dropped their halberds. One by one, they released their human visages to mutate into their own demon forms. Dante didn't even pay attention to them. His eyes were strictly glued to Lineia. "I suppose you know where this is going."  
  
"Fight you now?" Lineia whined. "But I have a cake in the oven waiting to finish baking! You can't interrupt."  
  
"What!" Dante said it more out of bewilderment than any other way he could have. Then he saw Lilith stand up behind Lineia. Lilith saw Sparda poking through the floor. She grabbed it with one hand and thrust it towards Lineia's head. The extending tip grazed Lineia's cheek as she spun and slammed her fist into Lilith's abdomen. It wasn't that she had been punched in the stomach that shocked everyone, excluding Lineia. It was that Lineia's fist had gone straight through Lilith's abdomen.  
  
Dante was already on the move when he saw Lineia turn around, but so were the sentinels. At every step he was challenged. Though he was outnumbered, he sped through them in black light. Lineia looked back just in time to see him before he tackled her. They skidded clear across the room and slammed into the wall. Dante reached for Lineia's neck, but his hands stopped in midair when she opened her hand. A glowing black sphere sat in her palm. He could sense a familiar essence spreading from it. If he didn't know better, he'd swear Lilith was inside it.  
  
"Get off me," Lineia said, "or your daughter will join her mother in death."  
  
Dante dared not reach for it. It was evident the sphere would break at the slightest mishap. He was fortunate it received only a minor fault when they collided with the wall. He coerced himself to stand and back away.  
  
"Go get the girl," Lineia said. "I don't need her anymore."  
  
Forcing himself not to look at Deanna, Dante rushed to Lilith's side. Her abdomen had not been torn open as he had thought. The only blood on it was Sparda's Sorrow. Lilith rolled onto her side and vomited blood. On the verge of actual panic for the first time in his adult life, Dante picked her up and slowly walked out backwards. His eyes were still fixed on Lineia as she stood and shook her gown.  
  
"You probably already know this," Lineia said, "but she won't survive the night."  
  
"It doesn't matter."  
  
"I know," Lineia responded. As soon as Dante and Lilith were out of sight, Lineia turned to the nearest sentinel. "He'll be back. We'll be ready." She stepped over to Deanna's body and poked at it with her foot. "I suppose this will have to do for dinner. How ironic, how it is so easy for the mighty to fall."  
  
*  
  
Lilith struggled with every step. Every effort she put into it felt as if it were sucking a bit of her life. Once again everyone acted as if no one noticed them, which was the preference this time.  
  
"How long has it been since we last came through here?" Lilith asked.  
  
"Just a few hours." Dante dragged her along until he heard what he thought was rustling. Then it grew louder until he recognized it as a voice. Someone was talking to him, but when he rotated every which way to find the source, the townspeople continued ignoring them. There was nothing.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lilith asked. His gyrations were making her back throb.  
  
Dante stopped but didn't look at her. "Nothing."  
  
"You're lying. I don't need to be complete to see that. You are totally on edge."  
  
"Very funny."  
  
"It's no joke."  
  
Dante paid her no heed. He gave her a nasty surprise when he got a surprise of his own. Standing in front of them, in commoner clothes, was Deanna. At least, Dante thought it looked like Deanna. Though her mere appearance was enough to upset him, the fact that she was motioning for him to approach her caused him to release Lilith. He did not comprehend doing so until he heard a thud followed by an outcry of pain.  
  
"Oh, shit!" He kneeled beside her and hauled her to her feet. "I am so sorry."  
  
"Whatever." Lilith bent her arm to ensure it was all right. "What happened?"  
  
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
"Like all my friends believe you're a bounty hunter?"  
  
"Very funny."  
  
"No joke."  
  
Dante pulled Lilith in the general direction the figure had gone. He saw Deanna again further along. He released Lilith again, but this time he caught her before she completely toppled over.  
  
"Please!" Lilith pleaded. "You've got to stop doing that!"  
  
"Didn't you see her?"  
  
"See who?"  
  
"I guess not." Dante ignored Lilith's inquiries. She stopped asking when she felt her heart skip a beat. "What's happening?"  
  
Lilith began panting. "I don't know."  
  
"Come on."  
  
Lilith pulled away from him. "I can't! I can't keep up! I'm not like you anymore. She took it from me."  
  
"And I'll get it back," Dante promised, "but you have to keep going."  
  
"I'll die if I go on."  
  
"You'll die if you don't."  
  
Rather than give her a chance to argue with him, he picked her up and carried her. He saw Deanna a third time. This time, he didn't drop Lilith. He obediently followed Deanna outside the city. The figure pointed the way they had come hours earlier and disappeared. Dante followed the trail back towards the ocean. Footprints dotted the sand. Following his intuition, he traced the prints half a mile down the beach. When he saw the partially submerged cave, he stretched Lilith across the ground and left her there.  
  
Just as Dante entered the cave, a blast of cold air hit him. The voice spoke to him again from inside. Going on his intuition again, he followed the voice. A bright blue light shimmered at the end of the cave. The air became colder as Dante neared it. The voice silenced itself when he was far enough inside to see the true source of the light. By the time he got there, ice crystals had already formed on his hair and skin. Before him were several pillars of crystal. Most of them were more than twice his height.  
  
"Is this what I was supposed to find?" Dante had no idea whom he was talking to. He touched the nearest crystal. The cold hit him instantly despite the gloves. He walked along the path the crystal towers formed. At the other end was a glowing pond surrounded by smaller crystals on three sides. The pond was frozen. "What is this?"  
  
The voice did not return. Instead, a sense of dread fell over him. Dante heard a faint screeching at the cavern entrance. "Lilith!" Dante ran nonstop up the cave and outside. Nothing was there. He hurried to where he had left Lilith. She was untouched. Farther up the beach, screeching human-dog hybrids inched towards her. "Oh no, you don't." Dante pulled Sparda free and lifted Lilith over his shoulder. As soon as one canine moved, Dante threw Sparda at the dog in the lead. The red scythe sliced through five of them before returning to Dante's hand. While the remaining canines tried to sort through the chaos, Dante ran back to the cavern. He headed straight for the frozen pond at the end of the crystal path. He placed Lilith against the wall and wrapped his coat around her.  
  
"Where are we?" Lilith inquired weakly. "Why is it so cold in here? It feels like a meat locker."  
  
"I don't know, and I don't know."  
  
"Why did you bring me here?"  
  
"I don't know that either. Something led me here." Dante was sure he knew what happened. Since Deanna was dead, her soul had reconstituted itself and was trying to make amends by helping them.  
  
"What about you? Won't you freeze in here?"  
  
"I'll be fine. It's you I'm worried about."  
  
Lilith tried to sit up. A severe pain forced her back against the wall. She convulsed as if she were being electrocuted. Dante grabbed both her arms. The seizure suddenly left her. Lilith looked at Dante and struggled to say something. She never got the words out. She gasped twice and fell limp.  
  
"Lilith?" Dante shook her. She didn't respond. Dante laid her down and put his ear to her chest. Her heart had stopped. He positioned his hands as if to begin CPR, but his attention was stolen by more screeching further up the cave. "Damn."  
  
There was only one other thing he could think of to keep Lilith alive while he returned to retrieve her powers from Lineia. He stepped to the frozen pond and put on an Ifrit gauntlet. In one hefty punch, the ice cover shattered. Ice cold water splashed into his face. He took off Ifrit and pulled some of the ice out of the way. He put his coat back on since Lilith wouldn't be needing it. Then he hoisted her up and slowly lowered her feet first into the water. When her head went under, he placed the ice over her.  
  
"I'm sorry Lilith," he said as he watched her silhouette sink, "but I have work to do." He positioned Alastor blade down and plunged it into the frozen ground. Alastor went through easily. Bolts of lightning flashed from the sword across the frozen cave. "Take care of her," Dante whispered to Alastor before leaving to prepare for his final confrontation with Lineia. 


	7. Daddy's Gotta Go to Work

Daddy's Gotta Go to Work  
  
Lineia rolled the black glowing sphere from one palm to the next. She had never been so bored in her entire life. She placed the sphere into a groove on her armrest and picked up her cup. The blood had already gone cold. She slammed the cup down. "Where is the waiter?" No one heard her over the noise that passed for music. Demons danced around the bonfire in celebration of her impending ascension. Some of the careless ones kicked dirt across everything in their paths, including her. She leaned her head back to gaze at the stars. It all made her sick to her stomach.  
  
"I want to get out of here," she moaned. "It's not so fun now that I've won." She sat up when a servant tapped her on the knee. "It's about time you got here." She held out her cup for a refill of fresh blood. It instantly warmed the glass. The servant lingered to watch her take a gulp. Then she raised the cup in a salute of gratitude. "That really hit the spot."  
  
The servant bowed and turned to leave. Lineia grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. You wouldn't have, by any chance, seen Arkyle, would you?" The servant merely shook its head. "Figures. Go on." The servant bowed again and disappeared among the chaos of celebration. Lineia leaned back in her chair again. "Where could that booby be?"  
  
*  
  
Arkyle had met the woman only five minutes earlier. He didn't even know her name, but at that moment, he was experiencing the greatest ecstasy he'd ever had in a back street. He didn't care that he had to pay for it; it was Lineia's money. It was his own personal way of giving the boss the middle finger. All thoughts of Lineia quickly disappeared with the bobbing of the unknown woman's curly red hair.  
  
I should have brought her some knee pads, he thought. He wasn't concerned nor ashamed that he didn't know what she looked like. Her face went straight for his crotch. He was beginning to feel a tingling when the girl suddenly stopped. "What the hell?"  
  
"Ahem!" Arkyle glanced straight ahead. Dante stood in front of him with a shotgun placed at the back of the girl's head. "Do you mind?" Dante asked her. "I need to have a few words with your friend here."  
  
"Whatever you have to say to me," Arkyle declared, "you can say in front of her."  
  
"I'm not really giving her a choice." That was all she needed to hear. She released Arkyle and sprinted down the alley. Dante fought back a snicker when he glimpsed at what she'd been working on. "You were paying her for THAT? She must really be on hard times."  
  
Arkyle pushed Dante with both hands. Dante's feet remained planted. "No one insults me like that!" Arkyle bellowed. "Who do you think you are!"  
  
Dante shoved Arkyle with one hand. Arkyle flew back into the stone wall. The impact created a small hole that Arkyle's backside got stuck in. He struggled with both hands and feet to pull himself free. His efforts ceased when the shotgun barrels were pressed against his nose.  
  
"I'll ask you only once. Where is Lineia?"  
  
"What's it to you?"  
  
"She has something that belongs to my daughter. I want it back."  
  
"Oh, that little brat."  
  
"Lilith is dying. If I don't get back to her in time, you'll wish to die by the devil's own hands."  
  
"I won't help you."  
  
"Fine. I'm sure Lineia won't miss you when your head's pasted all over the wall."  
  
"Wait!" Arkyle exclaimed. He still could not pull himself from the wall. "Why kill me? I haven't done anything to you or your daughter personally."  
  
"Maybe, but you won't help me save Lilith. On top of that, you're seriously pissing me off, and my trigger finger is feeling a bit irritable. I think you've already made your decision."  
  
"No! Wait!"  
  
Dante slumped over slightly in annoyance. "Why? You were just going to let my kid die."  
  
"I'm sorry. All right?"  
  
"No, no. I want what I asked for. Tell me now or your body will be buried in twelve different places, and you WILL be conscious during the operation."  
  
"She's in the plaza! There's some sort of celebration going on there." Sweat beaded on Arkyle's head as the shotgun got closer to his face.  
  
"What is she celebrating?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Dante pushed the shotgun further until it touched Arkyle's nose. "Why did she take Lilith's powers? What does she want with them?"  
  
"She wants to take them for her own."  
  
"Why? Doesn't she have her own powers."  
  
Arkyle shook his head. "Lineia isn't like other demons."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"She was born a human thousands of years ago."  
  
The shotgun dropped a few inches. "What?"  
  
"She was born a human and taken into darkness, just like your mother and brother. She was a powerful sorceress in life. As a servant of the Underworld, she used those skills to steal the life essences of other demons, thus becoming a full fledged demon herself. What you see isn't her real appearance anymore. She looks as twisted as any other lowly demon. She merely wishes to add Lilith's powers to her collection."  
  
"Why didn't she try to take mine?"  
  
"You're too powerful and experienced to fall for it."  
  
Dante absorbed it all for a moment. "I see. The plaza, you said?"  
  
"Yes, that's it."  
  
"Thank you." Dante lifted the shotgun to Arkyle's nose again and pulled the trigger. Before he released it, he was already on the rooftops. What was left of Arkyle's body slumped over. It never fell free of the wall. It just hung limp from the stone, where it was found seconds later while Dante leapt over the buildings towards the plaza.  
  
Several buildings later, Dante saw the plaza over the side of the roof. A great pillar of smoke rose from the bonfire. He dropped to his stomach and slid across to the edge. Below he saw the disordered dancing of demons. Lineia was easy to spot. She was leaning back in a gold plated throne. The chair's back was facing him. He could not see the black glowing sphere, but he could feel something as if Lilith were standing next to him.  
  
Lineia sat up when her neck began to cramp. "When can we finally get this show on the road?" she asked a demon crouching beside her.  
  
"They have a lot of pent-up energy. It's been nearly twenty years since the seed for the orb you hold was planted, and only now did it come to fruition."  
  
"Do I look like I care about their pent-up energy?"  
  
The demon sighed. "If you're so impatient, why don't you just stop them and commence with whatever you wanted to do."  
  
"You know, that's a good idea. I'm glad I thought of it." She slapped the demon on the side of its head and pushed it to the ground. She picked up the sphere, stood, and shrieked. The music and dancing halted instantaneously. Demons frozen in mid-step turned only their heads to look her way. "You have no idea how absurd you all look," Lineia said casually. "Now is the time to finish this! Then I can dance across the world with you as your true empress. There's other cool stuff, but I don't feel like talking about it right now."  
  
Nobody moved. Lineia raised the sphere to her face. To her amazement, the glowing energy within the glass caught her reflection flawlessly. "Oh, I am so perfect," she said while admiring herself. She stopped when the sphere caught something else. She raised it slightly to get a better look. When she realized what she was seeing, she lowered the sphere.  
  
"What is it?" the demon beside her asked as he got off the ground.  
  
"He's here."  
  
"Who's here?"  
  
"Sparda's son!" She pivoted and inhaled. When she released the scream, Dante stood to react. The building he stood on toppled to the ground. Lineia's eyes darted upwards to the red clad figure above the flying smoke and debris. Dante landed on his feet between Lineia and the bonfire. No one dared move without her approval. She didn't give it yet. "I bet I know what you want," she taunted.  
  
"I assume there's no point in simply asking for it."  
  
"It would be a terrible waste if you did. Remember this?" Lineia rotated the sphere so Dante could see the small crack. "The orb is holding now, but a few more of these, and your daughter is as good as dead. If you want to take this from me, then you have to kill me. If you want to kill me, you'll first have to kill all of them." Lineia's finger swept across the entire assembly.  
  
"It sounds easy enough."  
  
"I'd really enjoy watching you try." Lineia tossed the sphere into the air. Dante leapt to grab it. The demon beside Lineia vaulted and tackled him. They flew through the bonfire flames before colliding with the ground. The same time they hit the ground, Lineia caught the sphere. "Heads up!" she yelled to another demon before tossing him the sphere.  
  
The first demon seized Dante by the neck. Then he was engulfed in flame as an Ifrit gauntlet slammed into his gut. The demon jumped free, only to land in the bonfire. That was everyone else's cue for attack. Dante rolled to his feet and landed on one demon's head. He bound from one head to the next in a ludicrous version of hopscotch.  
  
When he dodged the eighth, he saw the next demon up ahead carrying the sphere. After only one second of eye contact, the demon took flight. Dante jumped after it and summoned the powers he'd honed for years. Engulfed in the black light, he transformed into a dark winged demon. He was after the thief with one powerful push of his wings. Dante spread his hands. Fire sliced through the demon's body. It screamed once and dropped the orb before exploding. Dante smelled carbon as he swooped down to snatch the orb. Another demon smashed into his back. His claws reached down for the orb, but it merely rolled across the claws and continued its descent.  
  
Dante reverted to his human form just as both he and his new adversary crashed into the nearest intact building. They emerged from the other side and crashed into the adjacent building. They emerged from that one also and crashed into the third one. This time, their momentum slowed enough for them to hit the floor. All three buildings were reduced to stone debris and smoke.  
  
"He's still alive!" Lineia screamed. "Take him out! And get the orb!"  
  
One demon found the orb rolling across the ground. He picked it up and scrutinized it. Three more small cracks and one large one were scattered across the surface. He stared at the glowing black light until he heard the others screeching among the debris. He dropped the orb and stood. All he saw was a flaming fist before it ripped his head off.  
  
Dante plowed through them two or three at a time with Ifrit. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. He chased the orb from one demon to the next. They quickly learned that the next demon to catch it was the next demon to die. The only smart one in the group dodged it when it was thrown his way. The orb flew straight into the bonfire. Dante drop kicked him anyway and rebound after the orb. Dante and the orb both entered the bonfire. Dante emerged from the other side with the orb in hand.  
  
"May I please have that back?" Lineia asked politely.  
  
Dante slowly raised his eyes to her. They were glowing red. "Over my dead body, bitch."  
  
Lineia shrugged. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but, if that's what you want, who am I to disappoint you?" Lineia's eyes took on their own eerie black glow. "As you so gleefully requested..."  
  
Dante saw it coming. He took to the air again and transformed in midair. The impending ambush fumbled below him. "For one with such great ambitions, you're not very creative."  
  
Thoroughly choleric, Lineia screamed again. This time, with her demonic upgrade, the energy shockwave resonated from her body in all directions. The demons who were unfortunate enough to be on the ground when she did it were obliterated without a sound. When she finally managed to calm down, she glanced around in amazement.  
  
"Look what you made me do!" she screamed up at Dante.  
  
"You sound like a spoiled child," Dante called back. Don't you ever get tired of screaming?  
  
"You know," Lineia said, "someone else said something like that to me earlier today. Now I remember. It was that tramp you used to keep."  
  
Dante landed and spat at the ground. "Deanna was no tramp."  
  
"So I heard. Just be a good boy and give me what I want."  
  
"I already gave you my answer on that."  
  
"Very well then."  
  
Dante braced himself for her backlash, but it never came. He didn't have time to care. He was knocked to the ground from above by a demon who survived Lineia's tantrum. The sphere was knocked from his hand. Dante lost sight of it as he was nailed to the earth. He pushed himself to his feet and strafed to avoid further attack. He stood and found a halberd blade sticking through his chest. He apathetically pulled it the rest of the way and swung it. The demon behind him was slashed in half.  
  
Dante took off Ifrit and pulled Sparda from its place on his back. "Don't worry about them," Lineia said to him. "Worry about Lilith." Lineia shook her head as she held the orb to her face. "I am so displeased with you, Dante."  
  
Dante swung Sparda around and pointed the tip at Lineia's face. "Give me the orb."  
  
"You know it isn't that simple. What will I get in return? Gratitude?" Lineia showed him the cracks again. "You can admit defeat and let me keep this, or you can fight me for it and die or break the orb. Either way, Lilith will die. The choice is yours."  
  
Dante thought about it for a moment, then stepped back as if to concede defeat. Lineia let her guard slip just enough for Dante to plunge Sparda through her chest. She bolted for the sky. She pulled Sparda free and hurled it to the ground. It landed upright at Dante's feet.  
  
"That's it!" Lineia shouted. "I'm through pussyfooting with you!"  
  
Dante watched as six inky tentacles burst from her back. Her own blood spewed as her superficially beautiful skin melted from her body to be replaced by the bloody muscles underneath that bulged to abnormal sizes. Her arms and legs grew to grotesque proportions until they were longer than her body. She dropped to the ground while keeping the orb high above her head. She stood at least 100 feet above him, though most of her weight dragged across the ground. She was hunched forward and crouched on all fours. The tentacles whipped the air above her. Oozing eyes broke out all over her body. Disgusted, Dante grabbed Sparda and took one great leap backwards.  
  
Lineia's laugh was ghastly, but she obviously enjoyed it a lot more than her artificial human laugh. "Do you still want this?" she said in multiple voices. She swung the orb back and forth to taunt him. He refused to reach for it.  
  
"Lilith," he said to the air, "forgive me. I would rather you die than become one with that abomination." Dante forced himself to place Sparda across his back as he contemplated what he was preparing to do. His eyes, which never lost their eerie red glow, began glowing brighter. He raised one hand to his side. A ball of fire erupted in his palm. "Lineia! Catch!"  
  
Lineia was too cumbersome to avoid the fireball he hurled at her. It pierced an eye on her side. Black pus seeped from the broken membranes. As she strove to compensate for the unexpected pain, Dante launched another fireball her way. Eye after eye popped until she was completely blind.  
  
Lineia opened her mouth as if to speak. Instead, an almost inaudible roar arose from her throat. The tentacles struck at Dante as if they had eyes of their own. Dante sidestepped in a blur of speed. Lineia sensed him drop down onto the tentacle. Sparda severed it cleanly from her back. Dante jumped onto another tentacle and rode it back to the ground.  
  
You'll die for this! he felt her rant inside his head. He responded with a flurry of more fireballs. She felt from the heat and burns that he was aiming for what used to her right hand. That was the hand that held the orb. Are you mad! Lilith will die! He answered her with more fire.  
  
Frustrated, Lineia reared onto her hind legs. Her front legs crashed back to earth. The resultant earthquake leveled every building left in the city, thus killing most of the civilians. Lineia couldn't care less. She faltered when she felt the ground crumble into a growing pit beneath Dante, yet Dante did not fall. She took several giant steps backwards to remain outside the pit. Eyes and hands still glowing, Dante lingered on open air.  
  
Lineia whipped her five leftover tentacles into a single point and aimed it straight for Dante. He waited until the last possible moment to dodge again. This time he used them as a bridge to propel himself upwards. Lineia's tentacles stabbed into the ground and got stuck. He reached for Sparda as he reached her head and jumped. Lineia was so enraged when she realized she could not pull herself free, that she didn't notice, at first, when Dante severed her hand on his return trip to earth.  
  
Dante grabbed the orb in mid flight. When his feet hit the ground, Lineia stomped again. Dante fell to one knee and clutched the orb to his chest. He cringed in horror when he heard and felt the orb shatter in his hand. "Lilith, please forgive me," he repeated.  
  
As if in answer to his plea, Dante felt something bore into his chest. He looked down at his hand and chest. They were both encased in what appeared to be shiny black glass. Sparda still in hand, Dante stood. The obsidian covering swallowed him whole the next instant. Dante could not see, but he could feel a swirling mass of energy surround him. He felt something else possess him. He could somehow see in his mind, as if from a third person point of view, that both he and Lineia had disappeared within the swirling black energy.  
  
Somehow, Dante felt himself standing over what was left of Lineia, but he knew it was not him standing there. He felt himself lean over her and seize her neck with one massive hand, but it was not his hand. He heard himself say, "For the children of my blood!" He did hear himself say that, but it was not his voice. It was his father's.  
  
He saw Lineia react to the voice. Before she could grace the world with another scream, he felt himself squeeze her neck, but he knew now it was his father's hand. The hand squeezed harder until Lineia's head exploded. Her brains sprayed through the air in all directions. The hand released what was left of her to let her fall.  
  
Dante didn't have time to brace himself before the energy completely withdrew from his body. The pain of what happened did something few things could do; it made him drop and writhe in agony. After nearly choking on his own body fluids, he made himself inhale slowly. He stayed on the ground just a little longer to get used to the idea of Lilith being dead.  
  
The entire city was uncannily silent. It also had Lineia's body all over it. Dante rolled to his side and pushed himself to his knees. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sparda (the sword, not the knight) on the ground beside him. He used it to stand. When he shook the final knot from his muscles, he heard something jingle and clang. He lifted Sparda and saw two things tied to the hilt. One of them was the red gem that got him into the whole mess in the first place. The second was the orb perfectly intact.  
  
Dante placed the hilt against his forehead. "Thank you, Father." He pulled the gem and orb loose and began the unnaturally quiet trek back to the frozen pond. 


	8. Ascent From the Inferno

Ascent from the Inferno  
  
Dante slipped Ifrit over his wrist as he descended into the cave. The cold air was a relief. He was covered in ice crystals again when he found the frozen pond. He went through Alastor's lightning barrier and stepped gingerly onto the ice. He saw the silhouette resting at the bottom.  
  
"Here we go," he muttered to the ice. Dante jumped against the crystal and rebounded into the air. Ifrit flared up as Dante crashed through the ice cover. He had to ignore the shock of plunging into icy water. He paddled down to where Lilith waited. Her skin had taken on a bluish tint. When he grabbed her arms, she moved stiffly. Dante wrapped both arms around her diaphragm and dragged her to the surface. He hoisted her over the ice and pulled himself out afterwards.  
  
He forgot he donned Ifrit until the gauntlets flared up again. The ice cracked under his weight. Dante took off Ifrit before it could create a sudden heatwave. He heard Lilith's body tissues crack as he lifted her over his shoulder. He snatched Alastor on his way out. Considering warmth and safety, he carried Lilith out to the beach.  
  
Her tissues cracked again when he laid her across the sand. Dante kneeled beside her. He carefully balanced the glowing black sphere on her abdomen. He placed his hand over her face. His eyes reddened again. A beam of heat radiated from his hand over Lilith's body. When he was mostly sure she was completely thawed, he pulled back and waited.  
  
He didn't know how long he was willing to wait. He would have given up after an hour if he didn't see Lilith's chest spasm. When she didn't move again for several minutes, a sinking feeling told him she was dead beyond hope. Then her chest spasmed again. This time the orb sank halfway through her body. With one final hefty spasm, the orb fell through. Lilith's eyes shot open. She rolled over and coughed up a lungful of water. When she finally took in a breath, she vomited more water.  
  
Dante stood over her to pull her to her feet. He steadied her with one arm. "Are you all right?" he asked while trying not to sound concerned.  
  
Lilith opened her mouth to say something. Then she closed it to gather her thoughts. She tried to speak again, then closed her mouth. "This is strange," she finally managed to say.  
  
"That's it?" Dante said. "After everything we just went through tonight, all you can say is, 'This is strange.'"  
  
"Sorry, but I don't know if you know what I'm feeling."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I...what did you do while I was gone!"  
  
Dante shook his head. "Let's not get into that right now. We have to go back to the palace."  
  
"Why?"  
  
Dante held the red gem in front of her. "It's our ticket home." Lilith nodded. Dante suddenly seized her shirt and pulled her to his chest as if to threaten her. "If you ever do this to me again, I'll kill you myself!"  
  
Lilith laughed. "I love you too, Dad."  
  
Dante softened his grip and laughed back. Then he pulled her close for the tightest embrace he dared. Seconds later, Lilith began tugging at him. "What is it?" he asked without releasing her.  
  
"I don't want to ruin this moment," Lilith mumbled, "but I can't breathe."  
  
*  
  
"So, where do we go?" Lilith huffed.  
  
"As far down as we can get." Dante took the stairs two at a time. Lilith caught up at the bottom just in time to avoid the great talon that crushed the staircase behind her. Three heads poked through the new hole as the guardian creature forced its body through the wall. A tongue lashed out for her head. It missed her as she turned the corner.  
  
She found Dante up ahead. He was tinkering with something on the wall. "Why can't we ever do anything the easy way?"  
  
"What?" Dante wasn't paying attention to her anyway. He pulled a lever that caused the adjacent wall to rumble. They watched as the wall lifted from the floor. Dante only let it raise a few feet. "Get under it!"  
  
Lilith dropped to one knee. That's as far as she got. All three of the creature's heads rounded the corner. Three tongues slithered across the floor towards them. Lilith stood and tossed Alastor. The sword sliced through all three tongues on both trips. Dante clenched her wrist the instant she caught Alastor.  
  
"What are you doing?" When she turned to challenge him, he was engulfed in the familiar black light. A wind wound up from their feet. "What in the world?"  
  
Dante never released her arm. "The bracelet!"  
  
"Huh?" Lilith looked down in time to see it sparkle on her arm. She turned away to protect her eyes from the immediate flash of blue light.  
  
The wind died. "Open your eyes," Dante said to her. Lilith did so. She gasped when she saw everything bathed in a bluish-white light. The monster in front of them had turned black, as if she were looking at a negative. Stranger still, it was frozen in the middle of an attack. "The bracelet," Dante explained. "You used it to stop time."  
  
Lilith raised the bracelet to inspect it. "So that's what it does."  
  
"Get under the door."  
  
"Release me first."  
  
"I can't. I had to use my powers to increase the bracelet's sphere of influence. If I release you, I'll be frozen in time."  
  
"Perfect." Lilith slid under the door feet first. As soon as Dante followed her, time shifted back to normal. She gave him an extra pull to get him through. Moments later she found herself being jerked down the hallway. "Why can't we ever do anything the easy way!" she screamed at the back of Dante's head.  
  
"Where's the fun in that!" he screamed back.  
  
Then I wouldn't die from all the stress! she thought at him. She didn't know if he heard it. Dante cleared the path as quickly as possible with minimal shotgun blasts as Lineia's leftovers stepped into his path. The whole time he kept his hand on Lilith's wrist. She didn't know how they were doing it, but every time the bracelet sparkled, Dante activated his powers right before the time freeze. The bracelet never wanted to cooperate unless a monster jumped in the way. Eventually they reached a dead end.  
  
"Oh no," Dante mumbled.  
  
"Oh no? Oh no is bad, right?" Dante was silent. Lilith shook her arm to get his attention. "What does 'oh no' mean?"  
  
"This wall wasn't here last time."  
  
"Why can't I ever get a break?"  
  
"Are you going to start ranting now?" Dante placed both hands against to wall to search for a weak spot.  
  
"You know, earlier today I flew face first into a stone wall at 100 miles per hour, and it really hurt. Since then, my day has been completely miserable. I just want a break. I deserve one."  
  
"Is that so?" Dante found a piece of mortar crumbling. "Stand back." Lilith gave him more than enough room. He rubbed his fingers over the area. More mortar fell between them. "This should do it." Dante pulled his arm back and put all his force into the punch. His momentum forced him through the wall as it tumbled to the floor. He rolled to the other side.  
  
Lilith raised her eyes to the rest of the wall above as it fell towards her. By reflex, she screamed and raised her arms. The bracelet twinkled, and the flash of bluish white light filled the room. The abrupt silence made her glimpse around. Then she kissed the bracelet. "Thank my father for his foresight." She found an opening in the falling chunks of brick. After quickly preparing herself, she sprinted forward and dove through the opening. She landed and rolled. By the time she stopped moving, time shifted again.  
  
Lilith didn't wait for Dante to register that she was beside him. She took his arm and dragged him after her as he had done many times before. The walls and floor quivered as the barrier behind them shook. No other nasty surprises barred the way when they finally reached the end. The cave in left the hall nearly pitch black.  
  
"Another dead end?" Lilith inquired.  
  
"Far from it." Dante took the red gem from his pocket. "Give me a light."  
  
"A light?"  
  
"Just like I taught you."  
  
"Oh, that." Lilith raised a hand to the wall. A flame burst to life in her palm.  
  
"Brighter."  
  
"Pick-y!" Lilith intensified the flame.  
  
"Bright-er!"  
  
She knew he was joking around, but she felt compelled to play the part. Huffing like an irritated piglet, Lilith inflamed her entire forearm. "How's that!"  
  
"It's all right." Dante guided her arm along the wall. A map of a castle on a hill was engraved into the stone. In the center of the castle carving was a hole. "There it is." Dante rammed the gem into the cavity. There was a deep rumbling and a bright light.  
  
*  
  
Lilith watched the red gem soar across the sky for a few seconds. Then it fell towards the horizon towards the sunset until it ultimately disappeared into the water. Dante stared at where it had fallen until the last of the sun dipped beneath the skyline. When he turned away, he saw Lilith sitting at the table with a book and a drink. With a wry smile, he took the seat opposite her. "When's the last time you read?"  
  
Lilith placed her hand over the page. "I read all the time." Dante raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I read when I don't have anything to kill. Like now. On this ship."  
  
"You were the one who wanted a break. If you don't like it..."  
  
"I do," Lilith interrupted. "I've just never crossed the Atlantic by sea before."  
  
"Well, if you don't want to continue, I can push you overboard."  
  
Lilith squinted. "I'd be just fine if you'd tell me where you stashed the 'equipment.' I hate sitting still."  
  
"In your dreams. I remember the last time I told you where to find the 'equipment.' It took a whole week to clean the living room and replace the furniture."  
  
"There was that one time, but that was years ago."  
  
Dante reached across the table to grab the book. It was The Divine Comedy. "How far have you gotten?"  
  
"I made it to Purgatory."  
  
"Safer, but not as interesting." Lilith only nodded. "What's wrong? No wisecrack?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"You mean, about whom?"  
  
"Whom, then?"  
  
"Deanna."  
  
Lilith seized the book and pulled it back. "I don't want to talk about her ever again," she spat.  
  
"Lilith, you have to."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because she was your mother!"  
  
Lilith placed her bookmark over Purgatory and closed the book. "She was my mother in the biological sense, but her soul wasn't in it. No pun intended." There was a long silence before Lilith asked, "Will you miss her?"  
  
"Terribly, but at least I have you as proof that she existed, and as proof that I did love her." Lilith forced herself not to gag. Dante waited for the steward who arrived to put down their drinks and leave before continuing. "I do believe I owe you a story."  
  
"What kind of story?"  
  
"One you've been dying to hear, so shut up and listen."  
  
"I love you too, Dad."  
  
Dante took a sip before beginning. "Long ago, before you were born, I met a woman named Trish."  
  
"That's one hell of an opening." Lilith lightly clapped when Dante rolled his eyes. "How did you meet? Did she just walk up to you and say hi?"  
  
"Not even close. She drove a motorcycle through the window and stabbed me in the chest with the Force Edge, which later became Sparda. Then she threw the motorcycle at me."  
  
"Gets a man's attention every time. What did you do?"  
  
"I shot the motorcycle out of the air and stood with the Force Edge still stuck through my chest."  
  
"Gets a woman's attention every time. Then what?"  
  
"Thus began one of my most memorable misadventures. It's worthy of a video game."  
  
"Please. It couldn't possibly be that good."  
  
"Sure it is. You'll see when I'm done telling you."  
  
"Well then, tell it."  
  
"This woman, Trish, bore a striking resemblance to someone I knew. That was why I let her betray me."  
  
"You LET her betray you? That's harsh semantics."  
  
"True, but how could I suspect her? Okay, I was suspicious, but not as much as I should have been."  
  
"I probably would have done the same thing. I almost wish I were given the chance."  
  
"No, you don't. This isn't a happy story. Not by any means. I may have found one thing, but I had to lose something else."  
  
"What could that possibly be?"  
  
Dante took another sip as he prepared himself for her reaction. "My brother."  
  
Lilith straightened as if she had been pierced with hot metal. She gave herself a moment to calm down. "You had a brother?" she asked through clenched teeth.  
  
"Oh, did I forget to tell you about him? I'm sure I must have said something."  
  
Dante's lighthearted question made Lilith smile again. She sat back in the chair. "You mentioned family, but never specified family members. What was his name?"  
  
Dante glanced at The Divine Comedy. "Do you have that amulet I gave you?"  
  
Lilith reached for her neck. She pulled the amulet from under her shirt. "It's right here. Why?"  
  
"Give it to me." She slipped the amulet around her braid and over her head. She slid it towards Dante. He pulled it in half and gave it back to her. She read the inscription written on the back of each piece.  
  
"Vergil and Dante?" She carefully pressed them back together. "His name was Vergil?" She placed the amulet over The Divine Comedy. "A wandering soul and his spiritual guide. At least your mother didn't name you Grendel and Beowulf."  
  
"She wasn't as bad as you may think. She came to my aide when it mattered."  
  
"Such as?"  
  
"For one, when I needed a babysitter."  
  
Lilith's eyes widened. "That was her? Why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, starting with the mototcycle through the window. I hope you have a lot of time."  
  
Lilith folded her arms. "This story has been a long time coming." 


End file.
